AMC cinema chain files to offer 50m more shares

[BOSTON] AMC Entertainment Holdings, the world's largest cinema operator, plans to offer as many as 50 million more shares as it tries to stave off a bankruptcy filing.

The offering adds onto 200 million shares the Leawood, Kansas-based company registered earlier this month, it said in a filing Tuesday. AMC warned again in the new document that it might have to seek an in-court or out-of-court restructuring, which could wipe out its equity investors.

Movie-theatre owners have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 had the biggest theatrical opening of the crisis last weekend but generated just US$16.7 million at the North American box office. Its studio, AT&T's Warner Bros, said only 39 per cent of US cinemas were open, at limited capacity.

AMC shares were up 1.3 per cent to US$2.32 in premarket trading Wednesday. The stock has fallen for the past seven trading sessions and is down 68 per cent for the year.

BLOOMBERG