China's Wanda Cinema Line is set to purchase Hoyts Group, the second largest movie theater chain in Australia.
The transaction was revealed in a regulatory filing made by Wanda Cinema, a unit of the Chinese real-estate property giant Dalian Wanda Group, which also owns the North American cinema chain AMC Entertainment, the Variety entertainment news portal reported on Tuesday.
Wanda did not disclose the value and means of payment for the deal, although it is speculated to be in excess of $750 million, which is similar to the amount paid in Dec. 2014 for the chain by ID Leisure Ventures, a Chinese investment and property company whose chief executive, Sun Xishuang, has close ties to Dalian Wanda, the report said.
Sun also heads the property developer Dalian Yifang and holds a 6.3-percent stake in Wanda Commercial Properties and a 4.2-percent stake in Wanda Cinema Line.
Wanda Cinema Line is China's largest private cinema operator, with over 150 movie theaters in 80 cities across the country. In 2014, the company applied for a listing in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Hoyts operates some 450 cinemas in Australia.
The purchase is seen by analysts as part of Wanda Group's bid to increase its foothold in the entertainment and leisure sector in China and abroad.
Earlier this year, Wanda purchased a controlling stake of Swiss media company Infront Sports & Media AG for $1.15 billion, following a 45-million euro investment in Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid.
The company is also currently building one of China's largest film studios in Qingdao Province, which will house 30 sound stages and a film festival center, and announced plans to build a $970-million hotel and apartment complex in Queensland's Gold Coast.
"We look forward to the investment and development of Hoyts going forward under the ownership of a new investor, ID Leisure," said Hoyts chief executive Damian Keogh in a statement in Dec. 2014 at the time of the ID takeover.
"Hoyts is embarking on a number of exciting opportunities and together with ID Leisure, we will continue to invest in the exceptional customer experience currently offered to 20 million attendees annually."