(Yicai Global) July 25 -- The so-called sale of Xihu Wanda Plaza in Nanchang is misinterpreted, and said it is one component of the asset-light strategy of Wanda Plaza sales, and the Nanchang-based plaza is just one of the first batch of these asset-light projects.

This was the official statement of Dalian Wanda Group Co. on the intended sale of Wanda Plaza.

Wanda said the Xihu Wanda Plaza in Nanchang is a direct investment project, which means ownership was already slated to go Pear River Life Insurance Ltd. at the time of entry into the agreement, and now the property right has vested in it upon the plaza's completion, since this is one of Wanda's asset-light transition projects, and the change in investors in the above two projects is an incident to this  transition, rather than Wanda's 'sale' of Wanda Plaza's assets.

Ownership of Xihu Wanda Plaza in Nanchang has also changed, and Pear River Life Insurance has likewise taken it over. Founded in 2012, the insurer is held by Guangdong Pearl River Investment Co. [SHE:002678], Guangdong Financial Holding Co., Guangdong New South Group, Guangdong Hanjian Investment Co. and Guangdong Finance Trust Co.

Wanda Group's chairman Wang Jianlin first proposed Wanda Plaza's asset-light strategy in an April 2015 in a speech to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, when he said Wanda must earn money by relying on its brand. The so-called asset-light model refers to a plan wherein other companies invest in a Wanda plaza, while Wanda provides its brand management. Among the 205 Wanda plazas in operation, 31 are asset-light projects. Twenty-one out of the 50 Wanda plazas that have opened this year are asset-light projects. Wanda's semi-annual report for the first half of this year also stated that nine out of the 14 new projects over this period were asset-light ones, and all newly-developed 26 projects in the first half also fall into this category.

Wanda also noted it will have a growing number of asset-light projects, and currently, over 70 percent of the nearly 50 projects in which it has invested this year are such, and the transfer of these projects is routine, it said.