Dalian Wanda pays a record $2.6 billion for AMC Entertainment

Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate, has agreed to pay $2.6 billion for AMC Entertainment to create the world’s biggest cinema owner.

The deal is the biggest MA transaction in the leisure and recreation sector so far this year, and is another indication of closer ties between the US and Chinese movie industries, coming a week after News Corp’s purchase of a 19.9% stake in distributer Bona Film last week.

“A combined AMC-Wanda will create the world’s largest cinema owner and will provide the necessary scale with which to fund and to deploy new technologies such as digital cinema, Imax and 3D so as to...