AMC Stock Tumbles 24% Ahead of Friday’s ‘APE’ Conversion

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AMC Entertainment Holdings

stock sank Monday ahead of the long-awaited conversion of preferred equity units to common stock.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week,

AMC Entertainment

(ticker: AMC) said Thursday, Aug. 24, would be the last day of trading of AMC Preferred Equity units, also known as APES. APE units will no longer be traded on Aug. 25, and will instead be converted to common stock and result in the trading of a single class of AMC common shares.

The movie-theater’s APE units began trading in 2022 on the New York Stock Exchange to help the company raise capital to help pay off its debt. 

AMC also is planning a reverse 1-for-10 split of its common stock on Thursday.

Shares of AMC fell 24% Monday to $3.12, their lowest close since January 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock has now declined 23% this year.

AMC needed approval from the Delaware Chancery Court to convert the APE units to common stock, which it officially has received.

B. Riley Securities analyst Eric Wold wrote in a research note Monday that investors were focused on “the dilution that could come from potential post-transaction equity offerings.”

However, AMC shares climbed by about 20% last week. Wold said he believes that stock move “could indicate that investors are beginning to look beyond any potential near-term dilution and instead focus on the opportunity for the company to utilize the access to incremental equity to both materially reduce debt and strategically expand into higher-growth sectors through acquisitions.”

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com