(Yicai) Dec. 14 -- Yonghui Superstores, a leading Chinese supermarket operator, said it will sell a 1.4 percent stake in Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group, a property investment and management unit of developer Dalian Wanda Group, for CNY4.5 billion (USD630 million).

As part of its strategy to scale down investments, Yonghui will sell the stake to agricultural products exporter Dalian Yujin Trading in eight stages from the end of this year to the end of September 2025, the Fuzhou-based retailer said yesterday.

The sale values Dalian Wanda Commercial Management, which had net assets of CNY308.2 billion and liabilities of CNY303.4 billion at the end of last quarter, at as much as CNY316.8 billion (USD44.5 billion). Set up in 2002, it had 472 Wanda Plaza shopping malls as of the end of last year, covering an area of 65.56 million square meters and having more than 3.9 billion visitors a year.

Yonghui originally bought 1.5 percent of the property manager for CNY3.5 billion from Yujin Trading's controlling shareholder Yifang Group in 2018. Sun Shuangxi, the actual controller of Yifang Group, is a longtime friend of Wang Jianlin, who controls Dalian Wanda Commercial Management, and is a shareholder in many Wanda Group firms.

The first stage of the stake sale is expected to bring Yonghui a CNY28.6 million pre-tax profit, it said. The firm more than doubled its net profit to CNY50 million (USD7 million) in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, its latest earnings report showed.

Dalian Wanda Commercial Management had revenue of CNY38.8 billion in the first nine months of this year, with a net profit of CNY10.8 billion and net cash flow from operating activities of CNY17 billion, Yonghui noted.

The property firm extended a USD600 million bond coming due on Jan. 29 with a 7.3 percent coupon, it announced yesterday, noting that it will be able to pay off the debt.

Wanda’s property services unit Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management Group resolved its debt crisis after Hong Kong-based private equity firm PAG and other investors agreed to reinvest in the firm, its parent company said on Dec. 12. But it will only meet the agreed compensation terms if it goes public by the end of this year.

Editor: Martin Kadiev