Wanda restructures $9B sale under pressure

hong kong/beijing — Dalian Wanda Group’s abrupt reworking of a $9 billion property sale was messy until minutes before a high-profile announcement, as all sides scrambled to simplify payment — underscoring Beijing’s concerns over creative lending and ambitious deals.

Wanda, led by one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin, announced on July 10 it would sell hotel and theme park assets to rival Sunac China. But shortly after, it approached Guangzhou R&F Properties about taking on some of the assets to reduce the complexity of the deal and speed up full payment, two sources familiar with the matter said.

It got what it wanted — although talks were so frenetic ahead of the news conference that it was touchand-go about whether a deal would be done, said one of the sources who had direct knowledge of the deliberations. Disagreements were such that the R&F name was temporarily taken off a board at the venue for the news conference which was also delayed by an hour, said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Wang told reporters the delay was due to printer problem and that concerns about “terrible quarrels” were just rumours. Representatives for Wanda declined to comment on the details of the talks.

The deal, which represents a sharp scaling back of Wang’s theme park ambitions, comes amid difficult times for Wanda. China regulators have told banks to stop providing funding for several of Dalian Wanda Group’s overseas acquisitions as Beijing looks to curb the conglomerate’s offshore buying spree, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. Prospects for relisting its commercial property unit in Shanghai by September next year are also cloudy as regulators have tightened policies related to IPOs and refinancing by property firms. —