LONDON & PLANO, Texas -- (Business Wire)
Cineworld Group, plc (LSE: CINE) and Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK)
announced today an agreement to acquire the remaining units of National
CineMedia, LLC currently owned by AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
(NYSE: AMC). The transaction will be financially accretive to each of
Cineworld and Cinemark and represents an on-going confidence in the
long-term opportunity associated with the cinema advertising business
model.
The purchase price for the 21.5 million remaining units is approximately
$156.8M, representing a price of $7.30 per unit. Cineworld and Cinemark
will each acquire half of the units and will fund the transaction with
available cash.
This transaction fulfills AMC’s requirement to sell its interest in NCM
under the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in
connection with AMC’s acquisition of Carmike Cinemas, Inc. in December
2016.
Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are
delighted to further strengthen the successful and longstanding
partnership between Cinemark, Cineworld and National CineMedia. Our
increased investment in NCM also supports our strategy to reinforce our
presence in the United States following the recently completed
acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group.”
Mark Zoradi, Cinemark’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, “National
CineMedia remains an important component of our business model and we
are thrilled to have partnered with Cineworld to solidify the strategic
ownership of NCM by founding members. We greatly look forward to working
even more closely with NCM’s Board of Directors and management team to
further enhance and grow the cinema advertising business.”
Andy England, NCM’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We value the
tremendous vote of confidence demonstrated by Cineworld and Cinemark’s
increased investment in our company. We are pleased to deepen the
collaboration with two of our founding members on our future business
plans and strategies for continued financial growth. In addition, we
look forward to continuing to work closely with AMC and servicing their
cinema advertising needs under our Exhibitor Service Agreement, which
has approximately 19 years remaining.”
Adam Aron, AMC’s Chief Executive Officer and President, remarked, “While
AMC will no longer be a shareholder of National CineMedia, we do look
forward to our continued close cooperation with NCM in the sale of
pre-show onscreen advertising at a majority of AMC’s U.S. theatres.”
About Cineworld Group, plc:
Cineworld Group plc was founded in 1995 and listed its shares on the
London Stock Exchange in May 2007. The company has grown through
expansion and by acquisition to become the second largest cinema chain
worldwide, holding the number one or number two position by number of
screens in each of its regions. Cineworld currently operates 9,548
screens across 793 sites in the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Israel as of 13 May
2018.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Certain statements in this announcement are forward looking and so
involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events, and depend
upon circumstances that will occur in the future and therefore results
and developments can differ materially from those anticipated. The
forward-looking statements reflect knowledge and information available
at the date of preparation of this announcement and Cineworld Group plc
undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.
About Cinemark Holdings, Inc.:
Cinemark is a leading domestic and international motion picture
exhibitor, operating 533 theatres with 5,964 screens in 41 U.S. states,
Brazil, Argentina, and 13 other Latin American countries as of March 31,
2018. For more information, go to investors.cinemark.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Certain matters within this press release include “forward–looking
statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements may involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual
results or performance to differ from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. For a description of these factors, please
review the “Risk Factors” section or other sections in the Cinemark’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed February 23, 2018 and quarterly reports
on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All
forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by
such risk factors.
About National CineMedia, Inc.
National CineMedia (NCM) is America’s Movie Network. As the #1
Millennial weekend network in the U.S., NCM is the connector between
brands and movie audiences. According to Nielsen, more than 700 million
moviegoers annually attend theaters that are currently under contract to
present NCM’s Noovie pre-show in 54 leading national and regional
theater circuits including AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:AMC), Cinemark
Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group. NCM’s cinema
advertising network offers broad reach and unparalleled audience
engagement with over 20,800 screens in over 1,650 theaters in 187
Designated Market Areas® (all of the top 50). NCM Digital goes beyond
the big screen, extending in-theater campaigns into online and mobile
marketing programs to reach entertainment audiences. National CineMedia,
Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.8% interest in, and is the managing member
of, National CineMedia, LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:
Certain matters within this press release include “forward–looking
statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements may involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual
results or performance to differ from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. For a description of these factors, please
review the “Risk Factors” section or other sections in National
CineMedia’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed December 28, 2017 and
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in
their entirety by such risk factors.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180618006188/en/
Contacts:
Cineworld Investor Contact:
Manuela
Van Dessel, +44 (0)20 8987 5000
manuela.vandessel@cineworld.co.uk
or
Cineworld
Media Contact:
Elly Williamson, +44 (0)20 7250 1446
cineworld@powerscourt-group.com
or
Cinemark
Investor Contact:
Chanda Brashears,
972-665-1671
cbrashears@cinemark.com
or
Cinemark
Media Contact:
James Meredith, 972-665-1680
communications@cinemark.com
or
National
CineMedia Investor Contact:
Ted Watson, 800-844-0935
investors@ncm.com
or
National
CineMedia Media Contact:
Amy Jane Finnerty,
212-931-8117
amy.finnerty@ncm.com
Source: Cineworld Group, plc and Cinemark Holdings, Inc.
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