China’s giant Dalian Wanda group has confirmed plans to absorb Legendary Entertainment into its Shenzhen-listed theaters subsidiary Wanda Cinema Line.
Wanda unveiled plans in January to acquire Legendary, producer of "The Dark Knight" and "Pacific Rim," in January this year for up to $3.5 billion.
Shortly afterwards the property to hotels group began to reorganize its various entertainment assets. It has taken advantage of massive investor interest in the booming Chinese entertainment sector to bring in outside investors and reduce the cost to Wanda of the Legendary acquisition.
On several occasions Wanda group chairman Wang Jianlin had suggested new IPOs for the company’s film distribution and production operations. Though now it appears the group is favoring expansion of the existing Wanda Cinema Line.
In a brief regulatory filing Wanda Cinema Line said that it plans to issue new shares to buy units including Legendary. The filing gave no details of timing, pricing or management control and Wanda Cinema Line shares remianed suspended, as they have been since February.