The sale of the remaining shares in the cinema advertising firm held by AMC, which is led by CEO Adam Aron, follows the 2016 Carmike Cinemas acquisition.


AMC Entertainment has sold its remaining stake in in-theater advertising firm National CineMedia to Cinemark Holdings and Cineworld Group for $156.8 million.


The deal, unveiled on Monday, represents the remaining National CineMedia shares to be sold by AMC following its acquisition of Carmike Cinemas in 2016 and a consent decree agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.


AMC's acquisition of Carmike Cinemas for around $1.1 billion made it the largest U.S. movie theater chain.


"While AMC will no longer be a shareholder of National CineMedia, we do look forward to our continued close cooperation with NCM in the sale of preshow onscreen advertising at a majority of AMC’s U.S. theaters," AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a statement following the deal with Cineworld Group and Cinemark.


Terms of the share sale will see Cineworld and Cinemark each acquire half of the units and fund the transaction with available cash.


"National CineMedia remains an important component of our business model and we are thrilled to have partnered with Cineworld to solidify the strategic ownership of NCM by founding members," Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said in his own statement.