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AMC could pull out of deal to acquire Carmike Cinemas

A Carmike shareholder vote on the merger, set for Thursday, was rescheduled.

By Ed Adamczyk

LEAWOOD, Kan., June 30 (UPI) -- The plan to merge AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Carmike Cinemas Inc., to form the United States' largest movie theater chain, could be in jeopardy.

A statement by AMC Thursday said "the transaction is at considerable risk," citing speculation about the deal, tax implications, company integration costs and a "weakening of the industrywide movie box office since the transaction was announced." It expressed a willingness to "see the Carmike transaction pass by the wayside."

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The statement was released on the day the Carmike shareholder vote on the deal was to have occurred; at AMC's request it was rescheduled for July 15.

AMC agreed in March to purchase Carmike for $30 per share and assume Carmike's outstanding debt. The union of AMC's 653 theaters, largely in urban centers, and Carmike's 274 locations, mostly in rural communities, would form a company with more screens than Regal Cinemas, current leader in scope of operations in the movie theater industry. AMC was purchased in 2012 by China's Dalian Wanda Group, owners of the largest movie chain in China, for $2.6 billion.

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