Cineworld denies talks with Odeon owner AMC over sale of cinemas | Cineworld

Bankrupt chain Cineworld has denied that it attempted to break up the business and sell some of its cinemas to the owner of its rival Odeon, insisting it was holding out hope for a buyer interested in acquiring the entire business.

It comes after reports claimed the world’s second-largest cinema chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in September, had been in talks to offload some of its cinemas in the US and Europe to AMC Entertainment.

“Cineworld would like to clarify that neither it nor its advisers have participated in discussions with AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc regarding the sale of any of its cinema assets,” the company said on Tuesday.

It also denied that any of its lenders were in talks with the Odeon owner.

The British cinema firm, which also owns the Picturehouse brand, stressed that it was focused on selling the business as a whole, rather than seeking buyers for individual assets, and planned to reach out to interested parties later this month.

The company was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in the US in the autumn, after it failed to bounce back from widespread closures during the Covid-19 outbreak. Lockdowns, which forced most of its 751 sites to close, contributed to a $708m (£592m) loss last year, and the accumulation of $4.8bn in debts.

The bankruptcy filing process, known as Chapter 11, is meant to give companies time to negotiate with creditors and reach a deal over how to reduce their debt.

Cineworld had also been grappling with the financial fallout of its abandoned takeover of the rival chain Cineplex, which left the company with a $1bn bill meant to compensate the Canadian firm for the failed bid.

The company, which was founded in 1995, operates 500 sites in the US and more than 100 in the UK and Ireland. It also has sites in Israel and across Europe including in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.