AMC Entertainment Holdings, the world's largest movie theatre chain, is moving to expand its global clout with the purchase of the largest theatre exhibition in northern Europe, Stockholm-based Nordic Cinema Group Holding, for $929 million in cash. AMC, New York-listed and U.S.-headquartered, is controlled by billionaire Wang Jianlin, China's richest man. Nordic operates 68 theatres and owns about 50% of another 50 associated theatres to which Nordic provides a variety of shared services. Nordic's theatres are number one in market share in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, AMC said in a statement. AMC operates about 900 theatres and more than 10,000 screens around the world, the company said in statement. Wang expressed optimism about the outlook for the movie theatre business in an interview published in the November-December issue of Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes. The movie theatre will "live on," he said. (See related story here.) Click here for AMC's full statement about Nordic. --Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina
AMC Entertainment Holdings, the world's largest cinema chain, has purchased the biggest cinema chain in northern Europe, Nordic Cinema Group, for $929m. The US-listed AMC, run by China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, operates 900 cinemas and will own a further 68 through Nordic. Nordic has the largest share of the market in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden, and owns about 50% of another 50 cinemas.