Dalian Wanda Group is in talks to buy two of Europe's largest cinema chains

Chinese film distributor Dalian Wanda Group is in talks to acquire European companies Odeon & UCI Cinemas and Vue Entertainment, The Wall Street Journal reported today. Buying any of them would make Wanda Group one of the largest movie theater owners in the world: in March, the company already bought the AMC chain of American and Canadian movie theaters, its second in North America.

According to sources in The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese company intends to buy one of the major European cinema chains and is now choosing between the British Odeon & UCI Cinemas Holdings Ltd and Vue Entertainment Ltd.

Odeon & UCI is the largest European chain and the largest global chain outside the US, with 236 cinemas and 2,179 screens in seven European countries, as well as Brazil. Its owner, the investment company Terra Firma, tried to find a buyer for the cinema chain back in 2011, but then it failed. Vue Entertainment operates 120 cinemas and 1,150 screens in five European countries and Taiwan. Unlike Odeon & UCI, the owners of Vue Entertainment, the private investment company Doughty Hanson & Co., are rumored to not want to sell their cinemas.

The purchase of any of these networks automatically makes the Chinese company one of the largest players in the market. In addition to 1 thousand screens in China itself (by 2015 the company intends to increase this number to 2 thousand), Dalian Wanda owns 344 cinemas and 5 thousand screens in the USA and Canada: in March it acquired the second largest chain for $2.6 billion cinemas in North America - AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

The management of the Chinese company, while refusing to comment on current market rumors, nevertheless repeatedly spoke about the desire to enter the global level in the entertainment and hotel markets. In China, in addition to cinemas, the group owns a chain of five-star hotels. In addition, the company has entered into partnership agreements with hotel chains Accor, Hilton and Starwood.

Ivan Nikolsky

The Chinese are taking over cinemas