People walk outside the newly boarded AMC 34th Street 14 cinema as the city continues with phase 4 of its reopening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus on September 4, 2020 in New York City.
Noam Galai | Getty Images
China’s Wanda Group, the largest shareholder of AMC Entertainment Holdings, conducted a stock conversion to enable the sale of its shares in the movie theater operator, a target of the recent WallStreetBets shopping frenzy, AMC said in a stock exchange filing.
Wanda America Entertainment, a Wanda entity, converted its Class B common stock in AMC to Class A shares on February 1 “to facilitate the sale of its common stock,” AMC said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange United States Commission on February 5.
The filing did not provide details on the number of shares converted to Class A shares or whether Wanda had sold shares in AMC. Wanda did not immediately return a request for comment.
AMC shares hit $ 17.25 on Feb. 1, nearly a four-fold increase from a week earlier, as social media platforms like Reddit fueled frantic retail purchases in highly shorted stocks like AMC and GameStop.
AMC shares fell 41% the following day and the stock is now down about 60% from its February 1 peak.
The social media-fueled trading frenzy has cooled in recent days as U.S. financial regulators scrutinized GameStop’s Reddit-driven stock hike.
Wanda, whose businesses range from real estate to entertainment, bought a majority stake in AMC for $ 2.6 billion in 2012, in what was then the largest overseas acquisition by a private Chinese company.
In 2018, the once-acquiring Chinese conglomerate narrowed its exposure to the US cinema operator amid tougher regulatory scrutiny by Beijing on the overseas expansion of Chinese businesses.
According to the group’s website, Wanda still has a majority stake in AMC. Wanda also owns Hollywood producer Legendary Entertainment and Australian cinema chain Hoyts Cinema, the website said.