There are increasing indications that Wanda Commercial Properties, the privately-owned subsidiary of Wanda Group, is preparing to go public in Hong Kong after the company changed the name of its Hong Kong shell company to Wanda Hotel Development Company and registered its new e-commerce joint venture.
Both the public listing and the establishment of the online-to-offline venture are being taken as an attempt by the company to pump up its declining sales in China.
An industry insider told China Business Journal that Wanda intended to register the new company in Hong Kong because its application to list in Shanghai lapsed in July.
On August 29, Wanda announced that it was it establishing the Wanda E-commerce Company with major Internet players Baidu and Tencent.
The Wanda Group, which last month declared its ambition to become the biggest property company in the world, will hold 70 per cent equity in the new company, and Baidu and Tencent will each have a 15 per cent stake in the company. The joint venture will invest initial capital of US $814 million.
Wanda reported revenue of US $15 billion in the first six months of this year. Most of the company’s revenue was from the commercial property sector.
According to information posted on Wanda’s official website, Wanda Commercial Properties opened a total of 95 Wanda Plazas in China and runs 60 luxury hotels. The properties that the conglomerate owns are spread out over 18 million square meters.
