Wanda Hotel to buy $1 bln of assets from Wang-controlled units (updated)

Wanda Hotel Development

10/08/2017 03:48

* Stock surges 40 percent to highest in more than 2 years 
    * Restructuring is latest in series of deals for group 
    * Dalian Wanda says Wanda Hotel will be "strategic platform" 
 
 (Adds share price, company comment) 
    By Donny Kwok 
    HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Wanda Hotel Development Co Ltd 
 0169.HK , a unit of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, 
plans to buy assets worth over $1 billion from firms controlled 
by its billionaire founder Wang Jianlin, in a move that sent its 
shares surging over 30 percent. 
    The restructuring is the latest in a flurry of deals for the 
group, which has grabbed the spotlight amid a government 
crackdown on showy overseas ventures and high-profile empire 
builders that has drawn in several Chinese corporations.  
    The Hong Kong-listed company said it would buy the entire 
equity interest in theme park operator Wanda Culture Travel 
Innovation Group Co Ltd from Wang's Beijing Wanda Culture 
Industry Group Co Ltd for 6.3 billion yuan ($945 million). 
    The deal would be settled either in cash or through the 
issue of shares or convertible bonds, it added.  
    It will also buy hotel operator Wanda Hotel Management (Hong 
Kong) Co Ltd from Wang's Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co 
Ltd for 750 million yuan ($112.6 million) in cash, it said in a 
filing to the Hong Kong bourse late on Wednesday.  
    Wanda Hotel said it would then sell its interest in Wanda 
Properties Investment Ltd, Wanda International Real Estate 
Investment Co Ltd, Wanda Americas Real Estate Investment Co Ltd 
and Wanda Australia Real Estate Co Ltd to Wang's Dalian Wanda 
Commercial for an amount that is yet to be fixed.  
    It gave no further details.  
    "Wanda Hotel Development will become a strategic platform as 
Wanda Group's Hong Kong-listed company focusing on theme park 
and hotel operation and management," Dalian Wanda Group said in 
a statement.  
     
    STOCK SURGES 40 PERCENT  
    Shares of Wanda Hotel, which has a market value of HK$5.4 
billion, surged as much as 40.5 percent to their highest in more 
than two years on Thursday in resumed trade. That compared with 
a 0.7 percent fall for Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index 
 .HSI . 
     The stock, which was suspended on Wednesday pending the 
restructuring announcement, has jumped about 140 percent since 
July when Wanda announced plans to sell theme parks and hotels 
worth more than $9 billion to developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd 
 1918.HK .  
    Chinese banks have been told to stop providing funding for 
several of Wanda's overseas acquisitions as Beijing tries to 
curb the conglomerate's offshore buying spree, according to 
sources familiar with the matter.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1K82KV    
    China is also cracking down on risky lending before this 
year's key Communist Party congress. 
    Run by one of China's richest men, Wang Jianlin, Wanda is 
one of a handful of Chinese conglomerates that have expanded 
aggressively abroad over the past few years, into areas well 
beyond their original business - in this case, property. 
    Last month, Dalian Wanda Group altered a deal with Sunac 
China after banks scrutinised their credit risk, by bringing in 
another developer, Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd  2777.HK . 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1KA3OL 
    ($1 = 6.6720 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
 (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree) 
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6470; Reuters 
Messaging: donny.kwok.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: WANDA HOTEL ASSET RESTRUCTURE/