As part of a complete restructuring, Dalian Wanda Group subsidiary Wanda Hotel Development has acquired Wanda Culture Travel Innovation Group and Wanda Hotel Management.
Wanda Hotel Development will purchase Wanda Culture Travel for RMB6.3 billion either in cash, the issue of shares and/or convertible bonds, with share prices decided by the company's closing price on Aug. 8 at HK$1.16 per share. The company will buy Wanda Hotel Management RMB750 million in cash.
Wanda Hotel Development will also sell interest in four overseas property projects—its Wanda Vista hotel and residences in London, Chicago, Sydney and Australia's Gold Coast—to Dalian Wanda Commercial. Following these transactions, Wanda Hotel Development will become a strategic platform as Dalian Wanda Commercial takes over control of theme park and hotel operation and management.
Wanda Culture Travel is currently focused on theme park design, construction and operation management. At the same time, Wanda Hotel Management is focused on hotel design, construction and operation management.
This announcement of restructuring follows previous reports that Dalian Wanda Group has been completely restructuring its assets in order to repay debt. Last week, Wanda Hotel Development requested the Hong Kong stock exchange suspend the trading of its shares. The group has already sold most of its hotels and theme parks in a $9.4-billion deal to repay its loans. In early July, its Wanda Film Holding suspended trading to restructure the company, also.
Dalian Wanda and other mainland firms have reportedly come under fire for their overseas acquisitions purchased with loans, which Wanda Group did for five years in a buying spree. Chinese regulators have cracked down on the purchases of major firms, including Anbang Insurance Group, Fosun International and HNA Group. As part of a disciplinary measure passed in June 2017, President XI Jinping banned Dalian Wanda from taking on even more loans for six entertainment projects overseas. Following the ban, the firm sold a 77-hotel portfolio to Guangzhou’s R&F Properties before it made a $9.4-billion sale of 13 tourism projects to Sunac China—China’s largest recorded real estate deal—in July.