Dalian Wanda in talks on stake in US film studio Lions Gate

Mainland conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, one of the biggest cinema operators in the United States, is in talks to buy a stake in US film studio Lions Gate Entertainment, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Discussions between Lions Gate and Wanda were “at an early stage and may not lead to a deal”, it said, citing an interview with Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin.

Wang’s comments are the latest sign of the company’s interest in making further inroads into the US film industry. They come three days after Wanda Cinema Line, a cinema company controlled by Wang, received approval for a share-offering on the mainland in which it hopes to raise up to 2 billion yuan (HK$2.5 billion).

Wang, who Forbes magazine says is the mainland’s fourth-richest man, said the owners of Lion Gate “have only been willing to sell a minority stake”. He said he was also in talks about investing in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In 2012, Wanda bought US cinema chain AMC Entertainment US$2.6 billion, including about US$2 billion in assumed debt. The deal was the largest overseas acquisition by a privately held mainland firm and Wanda’s first investment outside China.

In August, Wanda announced it had won the bid for a plot of land in Beverly Hills and would spend US$1.2 billion for a development there as its “first important step into Hollywood”.