The U.K.'s Cineworld Group plc on Feb. 28 completed its acquisition of Regal Entertainment Group.
Cineworld paid about $3.6 billion, excluding related transaction fees and expenses and repayment of certain company debt. Each share of Regal's class A common stock and class B common stock was automatically converted into the right to receive $23 in cash, according to a Form 8-K filed Feb. 28.
Cineworld funded the payment through a rights offering entitling shareholders of Cineworld to subscribe for new ordinary shares of Cineworld underwritten by HSBC Bank plc, Barclays Bank plc and Investec Bank plc, debt financing by HSBC, Barclays and other lenders and cash and cash equivalents held by Cineworld and its subsidiaries and the company at closing.
Trading in Regal's common stock will be suspended before the open of trading on March 1.
Also, Thomas Bell Jr., Charles Brymer, Michael Campbell, Stephen Kaplan, David Keyte, Amy Miles, Lee Thomas, Jack Tyrrell and Alex Yemenidjian resigned from Regal Entertainment's board. The size of Regal's board was reduced to Nisan Cohen, Vincent Fusco and Scott Rosenblum.
Cohen was named president and CEO of Regal, while Fusco was named senior vice president, CFO and treasurer. Cohen has been serving Cineworld as CFO and a member of its board. Fusco previously served Regal as vice president, controller since 2002.
