Beijing – 10 July 2017 –
Chinese conglomerate Wanda will sell dozens of hotels and other projects to developer Sunac China Holdings for US$9.3 billion to slash debt, two weeks after acknowledging it was being probed following heavy overseas investments.
It is China’s largest-ever property deal, according to Bloomberg News, and will see Sunac buy 76 hotels outright and take a 91 percent stake in 13 other “cultural and tourism projects” within China, the companies said.
Wanda, headed by one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin, was among the more acquisitive players in a flood of Chinese money overseas that raised concerns in Beijing over “irrational” investments.
Wang told financial magazine Caixin the deal would cause debt at Wanda’s commercial property arm to “drop greatly”, without giving specifics.
The deal indicates that “Wanda is running out of options to raise funds through normal financing channels,” said Ivan Han, Shanghai-based analyst with financial information provider Morning Whistle.