LOS ANGELES — The owner of the AMC Theatre chain is buying European movie theater operator Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group from private equity firm Terra Firma in a deal that would make it the largest movie theater operator in the world.

AMC will pay $663 million in cash and stock. It will also assume $539.4 million in debt.

AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a call with investors on Tuesday that the deal was spurred on by a British pound at a 3-decade low versus the dollar following Britain’s vote to leave the U.K.

“We’re making this acquisition opportunistically,” he said.

London-based Odeon & UCI has 242 theaters in Europe. The deal will give AMC a total of 627 theaters in eight countries.

Odeon & UCI will become an AMC subsidiary and continue operating under its current brand names.

AMC, which was bought by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group in 2012, is still in the process of trying to buy American movie theater operator Carmike Cinemas Inc. of Columbus, Georgia. That transaction, which was announced in March, is valued at $1.1 billion including debt.

Wanda also bought Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 billion in January, creating the one-two punch of being a movie maker and distributor at the same time. That popcorn combo helped Legendary’s “Warcraft” get distributed in a record 68 percent of Chinese theaters in June despite its lukewarm reception in other countries. The film has grossed $430 million worldwide so far.