By Irene García Pérez What started with a lawsuit between the world’s largest owner of cinemas and a spurned creditor, turned out to be a key relationship for the company’s financial comeback.

AMC Entertainment closed on Monday a $3.97 billion debt refinancing, issuing a mix of senior notes, a first lien loan and a second lien loan that caps six years of financial gymnastics to avert bankruptcy or a full-fledged restructuring. The transaction simplifies the company’s capital structure and expands its runway for five years, the company said in a filing.

In a twist, the Deutsche Bank Distressed Products Group, which was among a group of creditors that sued the company two years ago, was pivotal to getting the latest deal over the line, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Deutsche Bank desk, led by CJ Lanktree, took on $1.12 billion of junior debt risk itself before AMC tapped the broader market to raise the senior debt, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private. The move was quite rare, given the rating of the company — deep into junk territory — making the junior tranche even riskier for a trading desk at a bank to take the full position.

The plan, led by David Ross and Ilya Golden, senior members of the Deutsche Bank team, was dubbed “Project Casablanca,” a nod to the closing line in the eponymous film: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”It was an unlikely conclusion to a rocky journey, which saw the pandemic-struck movie theater chain navigate the threat of collapse, rise to meme-stock status and face legal battles with shareholders and creditors. A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank declined to comment, while a representative for AMC didn’t reply to a request seeking comment.

The latest push started in July when Deutsche Bank reached out to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron and Chief Financial Officer Sean Goodman to pitch the refinancing of the bulk of the capital structure.

With the plan in motion behind the scenes, Deutsche Bank also organized that same month an exclusive screening of at AMC’s Lincoln Square theater in New York for credit investors, which included a conversation with Aron.

The efforts culminated earlier this month, with a simplified capital structure that allows the movie theater owner to focus on the business plan. Investment bank Moelis & Co. and law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the company, while Willkie Farr & Gallagher advised Deutsche Bank DPG.

Aron singled out Deutsche Bank for its role in the refinancing deal. “We extend sincere thanks to all of our lenders, most notably Deutsche Bank Special Situations Group for their participation in this ambitious transaction,” he said in a press release.

Since 2020, the company has embarked on a series of efforts to see through a pandemic that closed cinemas and a writers’ strike that dried Hollywood’s film pipeline. Actions included a drop-down transaction in 2024, or so-called liability management exercise, that hurt some creditors’ holdings and prompted the litigation, a distressed debt exchange in 2020 and issuing shares to capitalize on meme-stock gains.

The year after the lawsuit, the spurned creditors reached an agreement with the company for a second liability management exercise.

With the box office recovering and a promising outlook starting in 2026, AMC tried to refinance in February only to run into the market turbulence stirred by the war in Iran. The planned bond and loan sale was derailed and instead the company turned to Deutsche Bank DPG, agreeing on a senior secured loan to repay 12.75% notes that were due in November 2027. The debt included a provision that encouraged AMC to pursue a broader refinancing within a year.