Wanda Commercial Is Said to Ready China IPO After Retreat From Property Development
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Jan 14 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Wanda Commercial Is Said to Ready China IPO After Retreat From Property Development Wanda Commercial Is Said to Ready China IPO After Retreat From Property Development

(Yicai Global) Jan. 13 -- Billionaire Wang Jianlin's Wanda Commercial Management Group, the world's largest commercial property manager, is preparing to list on the Chinese mainland after spinning off its real estate development business, The Paper reported today, citing a person close to the company.

Wanda Commercial, formerly known as Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, handed over its development operations to a new company called Wanda Real Estate Group last year, the report said. One of the conditions set by new investors in Wanda Commercial two years ago was that it should focus on managing properties and quit development.

In early 2018, Dalian Wanda Group brought four new investors into Wanda Commercial, the entertainment and real estate conglomerate's core asset and biggest money-making unit. Internet giant Tencent Holdings, developer Sunac China Holdings, retailer Suning Commerce Group and e-commerce firm JD.Com agreed to inject CNY34 billion (USD4.9 billion) into the firm for a more than 14 percent stake.

They also stipulated that Wanda Commercial's rental revenue should reach CNY19 billion (USD2.8 billion) in 2019 and that the firm must go public by Oct. 31, 2023. The firm is on track so far.

Wanda Commercial owns and operates the Wanda Plaza chain, a connected complex of retail, leisure, hotels and residential units located at the economic heart of a city. It also runs cultural tourism towns, hotels and theaters.

Last year, its rental income rose nearly 18 percent from the year earlier to CNY38.5 billion. That was on the back of an almost 100 percent occupancy rate at its Wanda Plaza complexes and a 100 percent rental collection rate. Wanda Commercial's total earnings for 2019 came to CNY43.5 billion (USD630 million).

Wanda Commercial opened 43 new Wanda Plazas in 2019. The plan is to open 50 each year, 70 percent of which will be based on an asset-light model. As of the end of 2018, Wanda Commercial managed 280 such properties, with 45.87 million square meters and annual throughput of 3.8 billion people.

Editor: Kim Taylor

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Keywords:   Wang Jianlin,Wanda Commercial Management