AMC CEO Adam Aron says he will try to refinance expensive debt

AMC Entertainment boss Adam Aron said Monday that he wants to refinance some of the movie theater chain’s expensive debt as it weathers the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In 2020 and early 2021, AMC took on debt at high interest rates to survive,” Aron said on his Twitter account, which was disclosed by the company in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.

“There is no guarantee of success, but we will try very hard to get this done. We are always thinking of creative ways to make AMC’s future more secure,” he added.

In refinancing AMC’s expensive debt, Aron hopes to lessen its interest exposure and push out some debt maturities by several years and loosen covenants.

Shares of AMC rose nearly 3 percent in late-morning trading Monday.

Even before the pandemic shuttered movie theaters around the world, strangling the cinema chain’s business, AMC had a significant debt load following a string of acquisitions.

Last year, the company’s stock was jolted by so-called meme-stock traders who scooped up shares of GameStop, AMC and other popular targets. AMC is up more than 1,200 percent since early January 2020 to around $28 a share in the first few days of this January and has a total stock market value of $15 billion

During the pandemic, the world’s largest movie theater chain narrowly avoided bankruptcy, raising over $900 million in debt last year.

Under Aron’s watch, AMC has cashed in on the opportunity to raise funds by selling more shares and slashing its debt load.

Last summer, AMC sold 11.5 million shares on June 3. Two days earlier, it sold 8.5 million shares to hedge fund Mudrick Capital, in order to raise $230.5 million to pay down debt.