HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group said on Monday that its debt-laden commercial property arm will receive a boost from a group of investors led by technology giant Tencent Holdings, who will buy a 14 percent stake in the company.
The investors, which also include retailer Suning Commerce Group, e-commerce company JD.com Inc and property developer Sunac China, will buy the stake for 34 billion yuan ($5.37 billion) from investors who purchased the interest when the company was delisted from the Hong Kong bourse with a view to relisting “as soon as possible”.
The deal will help Wanda Commercial to relieve imminent capital pressure to repay the old investors in the buyout fund created for the delisting. Those investors were promised up to 12 percent annual interest if Wanda Commercial failed to relist in Shanghai within two years.
The company was delisted in 2016 when Wanda Group took it private with a $4.4 billion fund while planning to relist in Shanghai in the hope of achieving better share price performance.
Wanda Commercial needs to make a $510 million payment on a syndicated loan by the end of March. It has a further $1 billion to repay by the end of May and has $600 million in offshore notes due in November, ratings agencies have said.
Wanda Group said earlier on Monday that it will receive HK$10.32 billion ($1.3 billion) from the disposal of London, Sydney and Gold Coast developments.
In a statement on Monday evening, Wanda Group said that, after the introduction of the new strategic investors, Wanda Commercial will be renamed Wanda Commercial Management Group and will aim to complete previously earmarked asset sales in the next one to two years.
“Going forward, it will stop engaging in property development and will transform into a company solely focused on commercial management,” Wanda Group said.
Last year Wanda sold a portfolio of domestic hotels and tourism assets, including 13 theme parks, for $9 billion to Sunac and Guangzhou R&F Properties. Wanda Commercial operated 235 Wanda Plazas in China as of the end of last year.
In a separate statement, Suning said it will contribute 9.5 billion yuan for a 3.91 percent stake in Wanda Commercial.
($1 = 6.3300 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by David Goodman
