The U.S. dollars that the Chinese have accumulated are starting to be used to accumulate things, like America's movie theaters.
A Chinese conglomerate has agreed to acquire U.S. movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings in a deal worth around $2.6 billion.
The deal announced late Sunday would give China's Dalian Wanda Group Corp. access to AMC's 346 multiplex theaters with more than 5,000 screens, mostly in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the deal, Wanda plans to invest up to an additional $500 million in AMC, which the U.S. chain can use to update its cinemas' technological innovations and reduce debt.
AMC is the second-largest theater chain in the U.S. and Canada, behind Regal Entertainment Group. The chain is currently owned by a group of private equity operators, including Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, CCMP Capital Advisors and Spectrum Equity Investors.
The government of China has recently set up government-based film investment funds in Hollywood. Chinese governmnet money versus Hollywood smooth talkers. This should get interesting.
Most likely a money laundry transaction. Dalian Wanda Group is neck-deep involved in financing the recent disgraced Neo-Maoist politician Bo Xilai (who was mayor of Dalian for a decade in the 1990's), and his alleged military coup attempt.
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