AMC Entertainment Next Big Acquisition Is Sweden's Nordic Cinema For $929 Million

AMC Entertainment Holding Inc. announced Monday a deal to buy Stockholm-based Nordic Cinema Group Holding AB for the equivalent of $292 million in cash. The deal comes one-month after the movie theater operator completed its $1.1 billion buyout of Carmike Cinemas. Buying Nordic would give AMC the largest theater operator in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and the second largest in Norway. Nordic will keep its headquarters in Stockholm, but will operate as a subsidiary of London-based Odeon Cinemas Group, which AMC acquired in November 2016. "For the third time in the past twelve months, we believe we have discovered a substantial acquisition that gives AMC yet another opportunity to further expand and diversify our geographic reach and more firmly establish AMC as the undisputed leader in movie exhibition worldwide," said AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron. The deal is expected to close in June 2017. AMC's stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has rallied 70% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 19%.