Cineworld Group PLC on Wednesday it is once again renegotiating its payment schedule with Regal shareholders, in the hopes of increasing its liquidity.

The London based-cinema chain has approached Regal shareholders to discuss further rescheduling of its payment obligations under an earlier settlement agreement.

The sums due relate to the 2018 acquisition of US cinema business Regal, for which Cineworld received a court judgement of around $255 million against it regarding the price Regal shareholders were paid. It paid out $170 million, with a further $92 million held in an escrow account, due by the end of March this year.

In February, Cineworld and Regal agreed to a new deadline of June 30 to pay the remaining $79.3 million of escrow funds, plus interest and fees, to be paid in instalments up to the deadline.

Cineworld now has initiated further discussions to reschedule these payments.

‘Cineworld has chosen to initiate these discussions with the aim of maximising its available liquidity and is hopeful that a satisfactory agreement can be reached,’ the company said.

In order to facilitate the discussions, it has obtained waivers or undertakings to waive from various lenders, in the event of a default resulting from non-payment of the Regal sum.

It also expects to obtain waivers from holders of its guaranteed convertible bonds due 2025.

Shares in Cineworld were down 2.4% to 29.50 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

At the end of December, its net debt stood at $4.84 billion, with cash and restricted cash of $354.3 million.

The cinema company is still awaiting the conclusion of its ongoing litigation with Cineplex after Cineworld called off the acquisition of the Canadian cinema company in the summer of 2020. Damages of £720.3 million could be due to Cineplex if Cineworld’s appeal in Canada does not succeed.

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