Wanda Hotel Development Co. is reportedly planning to buy Wanda Hotel Management (Hong Kong) Co. from a unit of its parent company Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co. for $112.4 million, according to a statement posted on the website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Wanda Hotel Management will continue to manage hotel projects that were sold to R&F Properties and Sunac China Holdings in July until each contract expires. The two buyers have reportedly offered priority to the hotel management entity to extend those contracts.
Last month, Wanda Hotel Development said that it planned to take over theme park operator Wanda Culture Travel Innovation Group Co for $950 million. The company is still in talks with Wanda Culture and Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties regarding the structure and terms of the acquisition.
Wanda Hotel Management operates 65 hotels in China and has contracts to manage and operate 13 more owned by third parties that are still under construction. Two of those are being built in Malaysia and Turkey.
By this morning, S&P Global had lowered its credit rating for Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties to junk—to double-B from triple-B-minus—citing uncertainties about the group’s business outlook and access to funding.
S&P is reportedly concerned that, as DWCP sells its entire hotel portfolio, it will lose cash flows used to service debt.