Cineworld lenders looking to oust CEO in management shake-up - FT

(Reuters) - The ex-CFO of Regal Cinemas is the leading candidate to replace Cineworld Group Plc CEO Mooky Greidinger as lenders of the ailing cinema chain plot a management shake-up following bankruptcy proceedings, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

A potential management reshuffle would probably mean Greidinger, Cineworld's CEO since 2014, would be forced to relinquish control of his third-generation family business, the report said, citing several people close to the company's top management.

Cineworld declined to respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Greidinger family's stake, around a fifth of Cineworld's stock that it owns through a family trust, is likely to be wiped out along with that of other shareholders and unsecured creditors when the bankruptcy process completes, the report said.

David Ownby was Regal's CFO for nine years until 2018 when the company was bought by Cineworld. He has been serving as an adviser to Cineworld's highest priority creditors, which are steering the bankruptcy process, the report said.

Cineworld, which has failed to find a buyer for the world's second biggest cinema chain, had said in February it may emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the first half of this year.

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil and Anchal Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)