AMC Settles With Department Of Justice

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC was up 4.29 percent on Thursday, following the company's announcement that it has completed its $175 million acquisition of Starplex Cinemas. AMC partnered with the Department of Justice in a proposed settlement with AMC Entertainment Holdings.

Starplex Cinemas owns 33 theaters with 346 screens in 12 states, located in small and mid-size markets. AMC is planning to convert 80 additional screens, in addition to its existing 90 recliner seating over the next several years.

AMC interim CEO Craig Ramsey stated, "We are very pleased to welcome the Starplex Cinemas theaters into the AMC family, as we expand our guest experience strategy into new markets."

"We believe that through this transaction, we've created value for guests and shareholders through the delivery of innovative new amenities which is expected to deliver incremental revenue, earnings and operating cash flow and to position us for further growth," said Ramsey.

The new transaction will allow AMC to add complementary suburban markets and non-urban to its portfolio. AMC will divest two Starplex movie theaters as recommended by the Department of Justice in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Bill Baer, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's antitrust division said in a statement, "Consumers have benefited from the competition on price and on quality of the viewing experience between AMC's and Starplex Cinemas' theaters in Berlin, Connecticut, and East Windsor, New Jersey," "The divestiture of two theaters in those areas ensures that movie theater competition is preserved."

Shares of AMC traded recently at $25.17, down 0.9 percent.