I Am a Nobleman in England

Back in Los Angeles, Arthur saw Taylor in his mansion who couldn't wait to receive the phone call, stopped the album recording work, dressed up carefully, and missed Taylor.

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

After a day of reunion, the radiant, more beautiful and moving Taylor was reluctant to give up, but the album she was recording forced her to go to work, and Arthur also had serious business to do.

After seeing off Taylor who was reluctant to part, he soon ushered in the people from the US branch of Barclays Bank.

In the living room, Arthur looked at the five-person team sent by Barclays Bank, and couldn't help feeling that as long as there were interests, the bank's services were really good.

"Your Excellency Bolling, this is all the detailed information about AMC theaters that we have sorted out according to your needs, including financial statements over the years..."

That's the way it is, because his financial and investment advisory team is still in the UK, and even if he brings it here, this is the United States after all, and in some cases, he still needs local forces to help him.

It was too late to temporarily form an American advisory group, so Arthur kicked the ball to Barclays Bank, which he had already tied into his chariot.

You must know that in the subprime mortgage crisis that just passed, Barclays Bank packaged the North American business of Lehman Brothers, the former Wall Street giant, and immediately allowed their Barclays business to complete the expansion of North America.

Therefore, Barclays Bank is really the most suitable choice, and 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, a major client .

Arthur took the folder handed over by the other party, opened it, and looked it up carefully. The information was very concise and comprehensive, which was also his requirement, because what he wanted was a briefing that would allow him to clearly understand all aspects of the target company, rather than needing 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 cinema lines, including General Cinema, United Artists, AMC, Carmichael, Marcus, etc., with more than 30,000 screens in the United States. Among them, the large theater chains control about 14,000 screens, but the controlled 45% of the screens have amassed 80% of the box office revenue.

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

In 2004,

After being privatized, AMC got a good opportunity for development. In 2005, AMC successfully acquired another theater chain. It is precisely because of this acquisition that AMC Theater has become the second largest theater chain in the United States. It is precisely because of this acquisition that AMC Theater Group has a board of directors divided by the top five .

JPMP, Apollo, Bain, Carlyle, and Spectrum five private equity funds indirectly hold 100% of the shares of AMC Cinemas through a merger and acquisition fund, and the shareholding ratios of the merger and acquisition funds are 21%, 21%, 15%, 15%, respectively. 10%. The remaining 18% of the shares are held by the company's management.

Seeing this, Arthur couldn't help but frown. This group of private equity bastards played a big game of capital during the acquisition process, making AMC theaters' debt almost twice the value of its own assets.

According to the quotation that can impress the other party, the valuation of AMC theaters is about 700 million U.S. dollars, and its own debt is as much as 1.5 billion, although the medium-term repayment time of this debt is 2020.

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

"Your Excellency Bolling, AMC is a company with excellent cash flow and has a superior position in the industry. And companies with excellent cash flow are more likely to obtain loans. Whether they are acquired or acquired, they have huge advantages..."

At this time, the team leader of Barclays Bank saw the young earl frowning, and couldn't help but speak hastily, and explained with a smile, as if he was very worried, and Arthur gave up the acquisition.

Arthur glanced at the other party with a half-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 theaters naturally also has the idea of ​​entering Hollywood. However, in Hollywood, capital controls blockbuster films, and blockbuster films also control capital.

Acquiring or forming a film company is not worth the loss for Arthur. Moreover, Arthur knows better than anyone that in the future Hollywood movies will almost be dominated by superheroes, and mortals can only survive. . .

In this decade of the new century, theaters have already been flooded with sequels, reboots and remakes of big studios’ safe-guarding works. Almost only in the field of low-budget art films and horror films can original stories find room to survive.

Superhero-focused adaptations and sequel reboots are devouring every screen in the world, and there are few blockbuster protagonists in theaters today who don't have superpowers.

The tide of the times is always going in the direction of the trend, and the most exciting trend in the new century of Hollywood is undoubtedly the superhero-themed comics.

If we calculate from the era when the superhero theme was really regarded as a branch of genre films, then the X-Men in 2000 should be the first to raise the banner.

With the help of the popularity brought by the popular animation of the same name in the past, 20th Century Fox, who holds the right to adapt the movie of Marvel's most popular comic character, 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 Studios, which did not make much money due to the buyout of the contract, began to realize that selling copyrights alone was Unable to make a way in Hollywood, the only way to succeed 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 major superhero treasure trove, has also begun to realize the potential of this theme, and has carried out a new reboot of the classic Batman series of movies in the last century. . .

Marvel Pictures learned from the painful experience, sold the copyrights of a number of small characters, and borrowed money from various places to save the initial funds for making a movie. In the end, with a desperate mentality, Marvel Pictures launched Iron Man in 2008, which almost formed a corner with the dark horse Batman Dark Knight in the same year.

The red sun of the super-English movie has risen.

Why--

Thinking of Marvel, Arthur couldn't help but sigh in his heart. If he had come a few years earlier, had money earlier, and bought Marvel, why would he have to find a different way to take the path of theater acquisitions and get involved in the film industry like now.

Marvel is the real treasure trove, this point, Arthur knows better than everyone at the moment.

With the Iron Man series as the axis, Marvel Pictures has launched a new concept of the film series "Movie Universe" that refers to the story structure of the comics. It has created a new pattern and dimension for comics and super-English movies.

Since then, except for the return of the old gold-sucking monster "Star Wars" IP that carries the national feelings, the super-English movies have almost won every box office title from then to today.

People no longer question the rationality of the protagonist in the movie's outlandish costumes, and the world has entered the era of manga nerds 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's big productions have gradually been exhausted. In order to adapt to the menacing tide of superheroes, the major labels have tried their best in the battle with each other.

In this battle, there are those who are proud of their own superhero IP, those who purchase superhero copyrights and extract the remaining value, there are violent money suckers who independently develop IP, and there are survivors who are unable to resist the danger of being acquired.

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

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

As someone said, one of the sad realities of Hollywood is that if someone has money, he will gradually find some followers who are willing to work with him.

This is the reality. In the most snobbish film and television industry, only famous actors can live in a luxury house and drive a luxury car. A random scandal dominates the headlines of entertainment for several days, and a trickster may not be able to start a job once in three months. . Due to the special nature of the industry, directors who hold the power of life and death and producers who play capital games often decide the fate and "money path" of these actors.

And the one who controls the fate of directors and producers is indeed a behind-the-scenes boss like Arthur who is rich and occupies huge resources!

There is always no shortage of good-looking skins in the circle, except for a few Qingliu, there is no shortage of ambitious people who want to be in the top position. As long as this asymmetry of power exists, there are people who can sacrifice their souls for fame and fortune. And as long as there are such people, Arthur can also place a red sofa in his office.