Cineworld is cutting dozens of British cinemas as part of a sweeping restructuring that would also include significant cuts in hiring.
Sky News has learned that the company, which until last year was listed on the London Stock Exchange, is considering ending around a quarter of its hundred or so multiplexes in the UK.
Cineworld will also renegotiate leases at an additional 50 sites, with the remaining 25 sites unaffected by the restructuring.
Sources said the proposals are expected to be officially presented to creditors and owners in the coming weeks.
They added that the insolvency mechanism used by the cinema operator deserves to be a restructuring plan and not a voluntary corporate agreement (CVA).
Reacting to a request for information, a Cineworld spokesperson said: “We continue to review our features but comment on rumors and speculation. “
Sky News reported last month that Cineworld was in initial talks for a sale with potential buyers and then moved into a formal restructuring process. The company receives information about the process through AlixPartners. Other cinema operators deserve to intervene. take over certain Cineworld sites if enough owners refuse to accept the proposed terms. The company operates from more than a hundred sites in Britain, including the Picturehouse chain, and employs thousands of people, although its public relations adviser refused to verify any of the figures. Under the leadership of the Greidinger family, Cineworld has become a global industry giant, gaining chains such as Regal in the United States in 2018 and the British corporate of the same name 4 years earlier. However, its mountain of multibillion-dollar debt plunged it into crisis and forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2022. It delisted from the London Stock Exchange last August, after seeing how Its percentage value was sinking amid fears for its survival. Under the agreement reached last year, several billion dollars of debt were exchanged for equity, and a significant amount of new cash was injected into the company through a hedge budget organization and other investors. Cineworld also operates in Central and Eastern Europe, Israel and the United States. Since emerging from bankruptcy cover, Cineworld has assembled a new control team, installing Eduardo Acuña, who ran Mexican movie theater chain Cinépolis’ operations in the Americas, as lead executive. Eric Foss, a former Pepsi executive, was named president of Cineworld.
Major summer film releases in Britain include Despicable Me 4, A Quiet Place: Part One and Alien: Romulus.