AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is enticing risk-hungry stock investors to gamble on its recovery as the cinema chain continues its efforts to avoid bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC on Wednesday launched efforts to raise up to $180 million in equity capital, even though credit investors are valuing some of its bonds at roughly 40 cents on the dollar, implying serious doubts about whether they will be fully repaid. The coronavirus pandemic has walloped AMC’s business, forcing the company into restructuring talks with key creditors. A rescue deal in July supplied AMC with $300 million in financing and a reduction in debt, yet the company continues to burn through up to $100 million a month, due in part to restrictions in many states and countries to limit theater occupancy to 50 percent or less, according to analysts who track the company. AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said the company is “just thinking ahead and being smart” while touting the threefold increase in AMC stock since it hit its low point of the year at $2.08 in April. Since the onset of the pandemic forced AMC to shut down its more than 1,000 theaters world-wide, the company has executed a series of financial engineering moves designed to help shore up its balance sheet.
