Embattled cinema Group Cineworld (CINE) which filed for  Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2022 denied it was looking to auction off certain Eastern European assets.

Bloomberg reported (2 December) Cineworld had held talks to sell its Cinema City and Yes Planet chains in Eastern Europe and Rav-Chen operations in Israel with bids pitched around $1 billion.

A spokesperson for Cineworld said: ‘Cineworld has not initiated, and does not intend to initiate, an individual auction for any of its US, UK or [rest of world] businesses on an individual basis.’

At its half year results (30 September) Cineworld reported that it would seek to implement a de-leveraging transaction that will ‘significantly’ reduce the group’s debt and strengthen its balance sheet. It expected to do this with the support of its lenders.

Speculation around Cineworld was further stoked by Tim Richards, the founder of the UK’s third largest cinema chain Vue who told The Times it was ready to take advantage of any consolidation opportunities which presented themselves.

Vue’s appetite for deals follows a restructuring which saw lenders swap £465 million of debt into equity and provide £75 million of liquidity.

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