Cinema tycoons have licence to sell shares: Greidinger family slashes stake in Cineworld after 007 delay
The Greidinger family has slashed its stake in Cineworld by a third after the cinema chain’s share price plummeted over coronavirus worries.
The Greidingers, who hold their stake in Cineworld through their company Global City Theatres (GCT), made £116million from selling 108m shares – or 7.9 per cent of the entire company.
But rather than pocketing the money, they will be forced to use it to refinance a loan with their increasingly nervous lenders.
After the release of the James Bond film No Time To Die (pictured) was postponed from April to November last week, Cineworld’s shares tumbled 13 per cent in just one day
Barclays and HSBC had extended GCT a loan which was secured against a chunk of Cineworld shares.
But the value of those shares has tumbled by more than 40 per cent since February 20 as investors worry that the deadly virus could keep crowds away from the box office.
The lenders were worried that if GCT was unable to pay back its loan, the shares would no longer cover the repayments.
After the release of the James Bond film No Time To Die was postponed from April to November last week, Cineworld’s shares tumbled 13 per cent in just one day.
Yesterday Cineworld shares fell another 6.4 per cent, or 7.1p, to 104p.