Cineworld Group PLC (LSE:CINE) has reached an agreement to delay payments owed to disgruntled former shareholders of its Regal theatre chain.
The settlement will see Cineworld hand over US$79.3mln in instalments with the final payment due in June 2022, rather than the previously agreed March 2022, in a bid by the UK-based group to retain some liquidity.
Last September, Cineworld agreed a US$170mln settlement with certain Regal investors who were unhappy with the US$23 per share paid for the company in a 2017 takeover.
It bought Regal in 2017 for US$3.6bn, taking on more than US$8bn of debt in the process.
It is also appealing a ruling by a Canadian judge against the company for cancelling the US$1.65bn acquisition of rival Cineplex (TSX:CGX) at the onset of the pandemic.
In early trade, Cineworld shares were changing hands for 39p, down 2.5%.