What Wanda Group Wants, Wanda Group Gets

What Wanda Group Wants, Wanda Group Gets

$AMC, $CKEC

With AMC Entertainment’s (NYSE:AMC) acquisition of Carmike (NASDAQ:CKEC) for $1.1-B, Wanda will control an 11,500 movie screens worldwide, shaping the global entertainment industry for years to come.

The Chinese real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has cemented its position as keeper of the most movie screens in the world.

Whether you live in North America, China or Oceania (Australia, NZ, +), Hollywood’s next tentpole film is coming to a Wanda-owned cinema near you.

On 4 March AMC Entertainment, majority controlled by Wanda, agreed to buy Carmike Cinemas in a $1.1-B cash deal. Once it closes, the acquisition will combine the 2nd- and 4th-largest cinema chains in the US to create the world’s largest theater circuit with 8,400 screens.

Wanda became the world’s largest cinema owner in Y 2012 when buying a 75% stake in AMC.

Last Summer, the Chinese company bought Hoyts, Australia’s second-largest movie exhibitor, operator of 424 screens.

In China, Wanda Cinema Line commands the country’s largest screen count with 2,650.

With the AMC-Carmike transaction, the company will own about 11,500 movie screens worldwide. But Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin is wants more.

The company is eyeing further acquisitions.

1. Turkey’s Mars cinema group with more than 600 screens,
2. Pan-European Odeon/UCI (2,200 screens across the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy, on his list.

Wanda’s expansion is causing analysts to wonder how big Wanda’s cinema network could become, and how the company’s global scale will shape the industry in years to come.

“Chinese businesses are not much different than American businesses in their desire to be number one,” said a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP Entertainment Section, who represented Beijing-based Perfect World Pictures in its recent $250-M investment in Universal Pictures’s upcoming film slate. “I think it does matter to Wang Jialin to be able to say that Wanda has the most screens in North America, as it does in China, over and above the specific business benefits.”

The strategic vision driving Wang’s screen-buying spree are the economies of scale.

A spokesperson for Wanda did not reply to a request for comment.

Many analysts believe Wanda’s huge exhibition platform could give the company’s production subsidiaries leverage when negotiating deals with distributors, producers and talent.

One of the long-term goals of China’s film industry is to make movies for the global market, not just the Chinese domestic audience.

Wang has been particularly adept at aligning the growth of his businesses with the stated goals of the Chinese leadership.

The company rose to become the country’s largest real estate developer at a time when infrastructure development and urban building was needed to remake and modernize Chinese cities.

The Chinese leadership believes in “soft power” which can only come through the promotion of Chinese culture and values via global media and entertainment.

Wang has placed his company at the center of the effort, good business, and  good politics.

Wanda’s leadership is savvy, strategic, and ambitions thus fitting into China’s overall strategy.

Have a terrific weekend.

Paul Ebeling

HeffX-LTN

The post What Wanda Group Wants, Wanda Group Gets appeared first on Live Trading News.