Following a huge CN¥63.18bn (US$9.3bn, €8.15bn, £7.22bn) property deal in a sell-off of Wanda’s tourism assets last week, it has now emerged that the company is actually part-financing its own sale, lending CN¥29.6bn (US$4.3bn, €3.76bn, £3.32bn) to Sunac China Holdings – the property developer taking control of Wanda’s theme park and hotel portfolio.
According to
The Wall Street Journal, Wanda is helping Sunac to finance nearly half of the deal, with the three-year loan making use of Wanda’s higher credit rating, reducing final costs to Sunac by an estimated CN¥678m (US$100m, €87.6m, £77.3m).
“[Wanda] shall procure for a loan in the total amount of CN¥29.6bn to be advanced to [Sunac] through [a] designated bank with a term of three years at the bank’s three-year benchmark interest rate,” said the filing.
The Wanda sale has been carried out to facilitate a reduction of company debt as it prepares for a mainland listing after delisting from Hong Kong last year, but the loan deal means its debt has not been cut as significantly as previously thought.
Wanda's heavy investment in entertainment, tourism and financial ventures has attracted the attention of Chinese regulators, who last month ordered lenders to assess exposures to overseas deals by four companies, including Wanda, HNA Group, Anbang Insurance and Fosun.
The deal includes 13 of Wanda’s cultural tourism projects, mainly comprising theme parks and leisure complexes, as well as 76 hotels, which have also been acquired by the Tianjin-based Sunac. The Wanda City deal is worth CN¥29.58bn (US$4.35bn, €3.81bn, £3.38bn), while the hotels acquisition is worth CN¥33.6bn (US$4.94bn, €4.33bn, £3.84bn).
