AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., controlled by China’s richest man, agreed to buy Carmike Cinemas Inc. in a $1.1 billion all-cash deal that would create the world’s largest cinema chain.
AMC, majority owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co., will pay $30 a share for Carmike, a 19 percent premium over its closing stock price March 3, according to a statement from the companies. The agreement combines the second- and fourth-biggest U.S. movie theater chains and vaults the resulting entity past Regal Entertainment Group.
The deal, the latest sign of China’s growing influence in the movie industry, comes as ...