A chain of cinemas$AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$Dongfeng is taking advantage of the sharp rise in “meme stocks” to cut debt and recreate the situation in the frenzy of 2021.

AMC said in a regulatory filing that it has reached a private agreement to exchange 10% of the approximately US$164 million notes due in 2026 for 23.3 million newly issued shares. The value of the new shares is $7.33 per share based on the principal amount of the exchange and accrued interest. AMC shares closed at $6.85 on Tuesday.

Most of AMC's bonds are traded at bad prices, and the company has been reducing maturing debts through other exchange and repurchase activities. Last year, the company traded about $200 million in bonds for shares.

The company has been struggling as movie ticket sales continue to fall below pre-pandemic levels. According to a previous report by Bloomberg, a group of banks proposed to the company to help it defer the maturity dates of recent debts, and the company said it is working to extend the term of these debts.

Last week, AMC announced its first-quarter loss report. After screenwriters and actors went on strike last year, the number of movies released by Hollywood Studios decreased, which affected profits. Despite this, CEO Adam Aron (Adam Aron) insisted at the time that “the days ahead will be better.”

As of the first quarter, the company's cash and equivalents were US$624.2 million, down from US$884.3 million in the previous quarter. The company also has about $4.5 billion in long-term loans.

On Tuesday, the company's 10% bond surged nearly 10 cents to 85.7 cents.

In recent days, with retail “leading brother” Keith Gill (KeithGill) returning to social media and following the “MEME stock” frenzy, AMC's stock price has soared. At the beginning of 2021, Jill launched a larger retail investor campaign, launching an “empty war” against Wall Street hedge funds to short bid, driving a crazy surge in “influencer stocks”, including AMC.

The bond swap caused the company's stock price to plummet by about 10% in pre-market trading. GameStop (GME.US) stock prices are also showing signs of cooling down.

In the last round of rebound, the company took advantage of the sharp rise in stock prices to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new share capital. Investment company SilverLake (SilverLake), one of the company's main creditors, also seized the opportunity to convert $600 million of bonds into shares and then sell these shares on the open market, making a profit of more than $100 million. Since then, AMC CEO Aron has been in touch with retail investors calling themselves “apes.”

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