A HUGE cinema chain has given a major update on its future after filing for bankruptcy.
Cineworld has ditched plans to sell its businesses outside the UK, US and Ireland.
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This includes its cinemas in Eastern Europe and Israel, known as its “rest of the world division”.
It comes after the business said it will raise $2.26billion (£1.8 billion) in new funding as part of a plan to exit bankruptcy.
The move means the world’s second-biggest cinema group has scrapped plans to sell its UK, US and Ireland businesses.
The group, which runs around 750 sites globally, filed for bankruptcy in the US last year.
At the time, the future of the chain’s 129 UK and Irish cinemas looked to be at risk.
It launched a process to find a potential buyer but after struggling to find an acceptable offer, has halted sale efforts.
Instead, it will now restructure its roughly $5billion debt pile to emerge from bankruptcy during the first half of 2023.
That will see it borrowing an additional $1.46billion (£1.2 billion) in new credit, and provide $800million (£651 million) of equity to its lenders.
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Cineworld has insisted that the debt restructuring will not affect its 750 cinemas globally, saying it will be “business as usual” across the sites.
It said: “Cineworld and its brands around the world – including Regal, Cinema City, Picturehouse and Planet – are continuing to welcome customers to cinemas as usual.
“The group continues to honour the terms of all existing customer membership programmes, including Regal Unlimited and Regal Crown Club in the United States and Cineworld Unlimited in the United Kingdom.”
However, shareholder investments will not be rescued under the restructuring package.
The company’s shares have plummeted by more than 99% over the past five years.
It came after the company was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and was forced to close some of its cinemas.
The firm operates 103 cinemas under the Cineworld brand across the UK and the Republic of Ireland:
- Aberdeen – Queens Links
- Aberdeen – Union Square
- Aldershot
- Ashford
- Ashton-under-Lyne
- Barnsley
- Basildon
- Bedford
- Belfast
- Birmingham – Broad Street
- Birmingham – NEC
- Boldon Tyne and Wear
- Bolton
- Bracknell
- Bradford
- Braintree
- Brighton
- Bristol
- Broughton
- Burton upon Trent
- Bury St Edmunds
- Cardiff
- Castleford
- Cheltenham
- Chesterfield
- Chichester
- Crawley
- Dalton Park
- Didcot
- Didsbury
- Dover
- Dundee
- Eastbourne at The Beacon
- Edinburgh
- Ely
- Falkirk
- Glasgow – Parkhead
- Glasgow – Renfrew Street
- Glasgow – Silverburn
- Gloucester Quays
- Harlow – Harvey Centre
- Harlow – Queensgate
- Haverhill
- Hemel Hempstead
- High Wycombe
- Hinckley
- Hull
- Huntingdon
- Ipswich
- Leeds – White Rose
- Leigh
- Llandudno
- London – Bexleyheath
- London – Enfield
- London – Feltham
- London – Hounslow
- London – Ilford
- London – Leicester Square
- London – South Ruislip
- London – The O2 Greenwich
- London – Wandsworth
- London – Wembley
- London – West India Quay
- London – Wood Green
- Loughborough
- Luton
- Middlesbrough
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Newport – Friars Walk
- Newport – Isle of Wight
- Newport – Spytty Park
- Northampton
- Nottingham
- Plymouth
- Poole
- Rochester
- Rugby
- Runcorn
- Rushden Lakes
- Sheffield
- Shrewsbury
- Solihull
- Speke
- Stevenage
- St Helens
- St Neots
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Swindon – Regent Circus
- Swindon – Shaw Ridge
- Telford
- Wakefield
- Warrington
- Watford
- Weston-super-Mare
- Weymouth
- Whiteley
- Witney
- Wolverhampton
- Yate
- Yeovil
- York
- Dublin
Cineworld also operates a further 26 cinemas under the Picturehouse brand:
- Ashford
- Bath – Little Theatre Cinema
- Brighton – Duke of York’s
- Brighton – Duke’s at Komedia
- Cambridge – Arts
- Edinburgh – Cameo
- Exeter
- Henley-on-Thames – Regal
- Liverpool – Fact
- London – Bromley
- London – Clapham
- London – Crouch End
- London – East Dulwich
- London – Finsbury Park
- London – Fulham Road
- London – Greenwich
- London – Hackney
- London – Picturehouse Central
- London – Ritzy
- London – Stratford
- London – The Gate
- London – West Norwood
- Norwich – Cinema City
- Oxford – Phoenix
- Southampton – Harbour Lights
- York – City Screen
Cineworld will also open three new Picturehouse cinemas in Chester, Ealing and Epsom.
