China's Dalian Wanda drops plans to buy Nine Elms Square in London (updated)

Wanda Hotel Development

22/08/2017 05:46

(Adds details on sale, background on crackdown) 
    By Shu Zhang and Clare Jim 
    BEIJING/HONG KONG, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Dalian Wanda Group 
said on Tuesday it had scrapped plans to buy Nine Elms Square in 
London, the latest setback for the Chinese conglomerate as 
Beijing tightens controls on overseas investment.  
    St. Modwen Properties  SMP.L , owner of the London building, 
said on Monday it had completed the 470 million pound ($605.6 
million) sale, without naming the buyer. It said in a June 
filing it had exchanged contracts with Wanda Commercial 
Properties (Hong Kong). 
    Wanda's International Real Estate Center said in a statement 
to Reuters on Tuesday that ownership of the 10-acre (4-hectare) 
Nine Elms belonged to a third party. 
    It is unclear who the buyer is at this stage. A sale of Nine 
Elms was first mooted in 2013. 
    China's cabinet on Friday reiterated it would limit overseas 
investment in property, hotels, entertainment, sports clubs and 
the film industry, and planned to maintain a blacklist of 
domestic firms that violated overseas investment rules. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1L41WY 
    Chinese banks have been told to stop providing funding for 
several of Wanda's overseas acquisitions in order to curb its 
appetite for offshore deals, according to sources familiar with 
the matter.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1K82KV 
    China launched a clampdown on capital outflows and overseas 
direct investment last year, and Wanda, a 
property-to-entertainment giant run by one of China's richest 
men, Wang Jianlin, has been one of the companies most affected.  
    In March, Wanda's proposed $1 billion purchase of U.S. TV 
production company Dick Clark Productions collapsed under the 
heightened pressure from Beijing on outbound deals.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1GN4KK 
    Squeezed for finance, Wanda in July agreed to sell 77 hotels 
to Chinese developer Guangzhou R&F Properties Co  2777.HK  for 
19.9 billion yuan ($2.99 billion) and 91 percent equity in 13 
tourism projects to Sunac China  1918.HK  for 43.8 billion yuan. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N1J303G 
 
($1 = 0.7760 pounds) 
($1 = 6.6565 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
 (Reporting by Shu Zhang, Matthew Miller in BEIJING and Clare 
Jim in HONG KONG; Editing by Stephen Coates) 
 ((judy.hua@thomsonreuters.com; 8610-6627 1297; Reuters 
Messaging: judy.hua.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: CHINA WANDA/BRITAIN