China's Wanda to buy AMC for $2.6bn Dalian Wanda, a Chinese real estate conglomerate, has agreed to buy AMC Entertainment Holdings, the US movie theatre chain, for $2.6bn in a deal that underscores China's dealmaking firepower amid a flagging US economic recovery. The deal, which is Wanda's first in the US market, will create the world's largest cinema operator and take the Chinese group into the heart of the US entertainment industry. Under the agreement, AMC will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Beijing-headquartered Wanda, a privately held group whose $35bn in assets spans shopping malls and theme parks to art collections. In addition to the $2.6bn purchase price, Wanda will invest $500m in the struggling cinema company to help strengthen AMC's balance sheet, retire debt, and fund strategic initiatives. AMC, which has more than 5,000 movie screens in the US and Canada, has faced growing losses as US economic growth has flagged, reporting a $73m loss in the fourth quarter of last year. Talks between AMC and Wanda began in July 2010, but ran hot and cold because of disagreements over valuation, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Wang Jianlin, group chairman, said Wanda is committed to investing in the entertainment business and that "this acquisition will help make Wanda a truly global cinema owner ... in the world's two largest movie markets." Gerry Lopez, AMC chief executive, speaking at a signing ceremony in Beijing on Monday morning, said: "The time has never been more opportune to welcome the enthusiastic support of our new owners." Kansas City-based AMC is privately owned by a range of funds including Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group, CAMP Capital Advisors and Spectrum Equity Investors. The company had been planning an initial public offering but those plans appear to be on hold under the new ownership. Wanda will retain senior AMC management, and said the company's day-to-day operations would remain unchanged with programming decisions continuing to be made by US management. Wanda owns 86 movie theatres, and its 730 movie screens in China make it the top screen owner in the country, according to Entgroup, the entertainment consultancy. However, film is a small part of the group relative to Wanda's other assets. China had more than 9,200 movie screens at the end of last year and is adding an average of eight new screens a day as theatre attendance grows. The screening of foreign movies is tightly regulated in China, and both Chinese and foreign films often must be revised by censors before they are allowed to be aired. The deal requires regulatory approval in the US and China. The deal comes as entertainment ties between the US and China have been strengthening, with Hollywood studio DreamWorks unveiling a Chinese joint venture project earlier this year. US entertainment groups have been looking to compensate for falling movie theatre attendance in the US by growing their footprint in China. Earlier this year, China agreed to expand the number of foreign films shown in China each year to 34 from 20 as long as the additional 14 films are in IMAX format.