Chinese real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda is sweeping up the popcorn and turning on the house lights. Faced with Beijing’s clampdown on overseas investments, it has scaled back its stake in AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest cinema operator, by about a third.
Wanda’s purchase of a majority stake in AMC six years ago set a precedent for splashy acquisitions by privately held Chinese companies. At the time it was the largest such overseas deal. The selldown is just as emblematic, this time of deleveraging amid tightening state control of business.
Wanda and US private equity firm Silver Lake have struck a deal that is good for them, less so for AMC’s other investors.