I am a nobleman in England

Back in Los Angeles, Arthur saw in his mansion that he couldn't wait to receive a call, stopped recording the album, dressed up, and missed Taylor.

In order to thank Taylor for his dedicated publicity and support during this time, Arthur really went all out and was grateful for his dedication.

After a day of reunion, Taylor was full of spirits and even more beautiful. Although Taylor was reluctant to give up, the album being recorded made her have to go to work, and Arthur also had business to do.

After sending away the reluctant Taylor, people from the American branch of Barclays Bank were soon welcomed.

In the living room, Arthur looked at the five-person team sent by Barclays Bank, and had to sigh that as long as there are benefits, the bank's services are really in place.

"Your Excellency Bolin, this is based on your needs, we have compiled all the detailed information about AMC cinema, including the financial statements of the past years..."

This is the case, because his own financial and investment advisory group is still in the UK, and even if it is brought, it is the United States after all, and some situations still require local forces to help him.

It was too late to set up a US advisory group temporarily, so Arthur kicked the ball to Barclays Bank, which he had tied up in his chariot.

To know the subprime mortgage crisis in the past, Barclays Bank has packaged the North American business of the Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers, and suddenly let them complete the expansion of Barclays' business in North America.

Therefore, Barclays Bank is really the most suitable choice. Just as Arthur thought, upon receiving his call, Barclays Bank’s London headquarters immediately arranged for the North American department to form a team to serve Arthur’s big client. .

Arthur took the folder handed over by the other party and opened it for a serious review. The information was very concise and comprehensive. This was also his requirement, because what he wanted was to give him a clear understanding of all aspects of the target company's briefing, not the need He used his brain to extract what he needed to know from various data.

According to the data, the projection industry in the United States is controlled by several large theaters, including General Theaters, United Arts Theaters, AMC Theaters, Carmack Theaters, Marcus Theaters, etc. There are more than 30,000 screens in the United States. In China, the large theater chain controls about 14,000 screens, while 45 percent of the screens controlled have accumulated 80 percent of the box office revenue.

AMC Cinemas is the second largest theater chain group in the United States. It has a total of 3,500 screens, with an average of 15 each, located in major cities across the United States. More than 200 million people choose AMC every year...

In 2004, it was privatized. After privatization, AMC obtained a good opportunity for development.In 2005, AMC successfully acquired another cinema chain. It is precisely because of this acquisition that AMC Cinemas has become the second largest cinema chain in the United States. It is also precisely because of this acquisition that AMC Cinemas Group has a top five separate board of directors. .

JPMP, Apollo, Bain, Carlyle, and Spectroscopy five private equity funds indirectly hold 100% of the shares of AMC Cinemas through an M&A fund, and M&A funds hold 21%, 21%, 15%, 15%, 10%.The remaining 18% of the shares are held by the company's management.

Seeing this, Arthur's brows frowned. This group of private equity bastards played capital games during the acquisition process, making AMC Cinema's debt almost twice the value of its own assets.

According to the offer that can impress the other party's acquisition, AMC Cinemas is valued at about 700 million US dollars, and its own debt is as much as 1.5 billion, although this debt will be paid back in 2020 in the middle.

In this way, if Arthur wants to complete the acquisition, he needs to undertake this part of the debt at the same time. The purchase price of US$2.2 billion is inevitable.

"Your Excellency Bolin, AMC is a company with excellent cash flow and a superior position in the industry. Companies with excellent cash flow are more likely to obtain loans, whether it is mergers or acquisitions, they have huge advantages..."

At this time, the Barclays Bank team leader saw the young earl frowning, he could not help but hurriedly spoke, smiled and explained, seemed to be very worried, Arthur gave up the acquisition.

Arthur glanced at each other with a faint smile, then continued to look at the information in his hand, lost in thought.

To be honest, in addition to making money, the acquisition of cinema chains naturally also has the idea of ​​entering Hollywood. However, in Hollywood, capital controls blockbuster movies, and blockbuster movies also control capital.

For Arthur, the acquisition or formation of a film company is not worth the gain. Moreover, Arthur knows better than everyone that in the future, Hollywood movies will almost be dominated by superheroes, and mortals can only survive...

In the past decade of the new century, theaters have long been flooded with sequels of Dachang Mingzhe's protection, restarting and remaking works. Almost only in the field of low-cost art and horror films can original stories find room to survive.

Superhero-based adaptations and restarts of sequels are devouring every screen in the world. Nowadays, there are few blockbusters who do not have superpowers in theaters.

The tide of the times always rushes in the direction pointed by the trend, and the most exciting trend in Hollywood in the new century is undoubtedly the superhero theme movies.

If the superhero genre began to be counted as a branch of the genre, then the first to raise the banner would be the X-Men in 2000.

Taking advantage of the popularity of the popular animation of the same name in the past, Twentieth Century Fox, which holds the right to adapt Marvel's most popular comic character film, launched the X-Men in a timely manner, reaping both word of mouth and box office success.

Soon, after the success of Fox’s X-Men series and Sony’s Spider-Man trilogy, Marvel Pictures, which did not make much money due to the buyout of the contract, began to realize that just selling copyrights The only way to succeed in Hollywood is to truly transform into a production company and make your own movies.

And Warner Bros., which holds the copyright of all the characters of DC Comics, another big superhero treasure house, has also begun to realize the potential of this theme, and has restarted the classic Batman movie series of the last century...

Marvel Pictures learned from the lesson and sold the copyrights of a number of small characters, plus borrowing from the west, saving the initial funds to make a movie.In the end, in a desperate mentality, Marvel Studios launched Iron Man in 2008, and almost formed a squabble with the dark horse Batman Dark Knight in the same year.

The red sun of man-changing super British movies has risen.

Hey--

Thinking of Marvel, Arthur couldn't help but sighed in a helpless heart. If he had come a few years earlier, had money earlier, and bought Marvel, why should he take the path of theatrical acquisitions and get involved in the film industry like this.

Marvel is the real treasure house. Arthur knows this better than everyone at the moment.

Taking the Iron Man series as the axis, Marvel Pictures has launched a new concept "Cinema Universe" for the film series based on the structure of comic stories.It has created a new pattern and dimension for the comic change of super British movies.

Since then, in addition to the year of the return of the veteran gold-sucking monster "Star Wars" IP that carries the nation's sentiments, the Manga Super-British movie has almost won every box office crown from then to today.

People no longer question the rationality of the movie's protagonist's fancy dress, and the world has entered the era of manga house listening to the gospel.

In the years when the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially began to take over the theater box office, the original stories of Hollywood big productions have gradually become exhausted.In order to adapt to the turbulent wave of superheroes, the big labels tried their best to fight each other.

In this battle, there are those who are proud of their own super-British IP, those who purchase super-British copyrights and extract surplus value, there are violent gold suckers who develop their own IP, and there are survivors who are unable to resist the risk of acquisition.

This battle has already begun. If Arthur wants to get a share of it, then the acquisition of the theater is undoubtedly the only and best entry point.

To put it bluntly, in the entertainment industry, as long as you have the money and resources, you can become a big player!

As some people have said, a sad reality in Hollywood is that if someone has money, they will gradually find some followers who are willing to work with them.

This is the reality. In the most snobbery film and television circles, celebrities can live in luxury houses and drive luxury cars, and a random scandal dominates the entertainment headlines for several days, while those who run the fortunes may not be able to work once in three months. .Due to the special nature of the industry, directors who control the power of life and death and producers who play capital games often determine the fate and "money path" of these actors.

And it is true that behind-the-scenes bosses like Arthur who have the money and occupy huge resources are in charge of the fate of directors and producers!

There is always no shortage of good-looking skins in the circle. Except for a few clear people, there is no shortage of people who are ambitious and want to be in position.As long as there is such a power imbalance, some people can abandon their souls for fame and gain.And as long as there are such people, Arthur can also put a red sofa in his office.