AMC Entertainment buys 22% stake in a Nevada gold mine to diversify away from movie theater business

"In 2021, our retail shareholders armed us with a $1.8 billion war chest to play on offense and grow our company," AMC CEO Adam Aron said.

• AMC Entertainment is buying a 22% stake in a Nevada gold mine to diversify away from its movie theater business.
• AMC will pay $28 million for its stake in Hycroft Mining, a junior gold and silver miner.
• "Our retail shareholders armed us with a $1.8 billion war chest to play on offense and grow our company," AMC CEO Adam Aron said.

AMC Entertainment is using the cash it raised during last year's meme-stock craze to buy a stake in a junior gold and silver miner based in Nevada.

The movie theater chain will acquire a 22% stake in Hycroft Mining for $27.9 million, giving AMC 23.4 million shares for $1.193 per share. The deal also gives AMC 23.4 million warrants in Hycroft Mining, representing the option to acquire more shares at an exercise price of $1.068 per share.

"One would not normally think that a movie theatre company's core competency includes gold or silver mining. In recent years, however, AMC Entertainment has had enormous success and demonstrated expertise in guiding a company with otherwise valuable assets through a time of severe liquidity challenge, the raising of capital, and strengthening of balance sheets, as well as communicating with individual retail investors," AMC CEO Adam Aron said.

The deal is a head scratcher given that AMC shares zero synergies with a junior gold miner. But investors are buying into the idea, at least for now. Shares of AMC jumped 5% in pre-market trading, with Hycroft Mining soaring as much as 87% to $2.60. 

That means the deal is already significantly profitable for AMC, assuming that Hycroft's share price increase is maintained in the long-term. Likely giving investors confidence in the mining deal is Eric Sprott's decision to invest alongside AMC, buying a 22% stake for $27.9 million in Hycroft.

Sprott is a Canadian billionaire who has built his fortune around successful investments in the precious metals space.

AMC noted that independent third-party studies suggest the Nevada gold mine has 15 million ounces of gold deposits and 600 million ounces of silver deposits at its 71,000-acre mine. AMC's investment in Hycroft will afford it one seat on the gold miner's board of directors. 

The move by AMC comes after gold prices have moved up 5% so far in 2022, as expected interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia sparked a rush into safe-haven assets by investors.

Aron has his retail investors to thank for the investment in Hycroft mining, as the retail surge that sparked a massive short-squeeze in the stock allowed the movie theater chain to raise more than a billion in cash last year by selling stock.

"In 2021, our retail shareholders armed us with a $1.8 billion war chest to play on offense and grow our company," Aron said.

This isn't the first initiative taken on by AMC that has raised eyebrows among investors. It moved to accept cryptocurrencies like dogecoin as a form of payment for its movie tickets, and has since gotten into the business of minting NFT collections as it seeks to expand its audience. 

Shares of AMC are down 47% year-to-date, and are down more than 80% from their record high of $72.62 per share.