AMC finishes General Cinemas purchase

KANSAS CITY, MISOURI - AMC Entertainment Inc. has completed its $167 million purchase of GC Companies, the parent company of General Cinemas, AMC said Friday. <br> <br> The acquisition, approved March 18 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, includes 66 theaters with 621 screens in the United States and a 50 percent stake in a joint venture operating 17 cinemas with 621 screens in South America. <br> <br> Under the deal, AMC will pay creditors of Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based GC Companies a combination of cash and AMC notes and stock. <br> <br> AMC, one of the survivors after a wave of cinema chain bankruptcies in recent years, announced March 15 that it had completed its acquisition of Gulf States Theaters, a New Orleans chain of five theaters. <br> <br> After the two purchases, Kansas City-based AMC operates 247 theaters with 3,520 screens worldwide. <br> <br> United Artists Theater Co., Edwards Cinemas, Carmike Cinemas and General Cinema have all filed for bankruptcy in the last two years as the industry suffered from a rush of overbuilding and a drought of hit movies coming out of Hollywood.

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