Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties — China’s biggest property developer —has announced its intentions to become the world’s largest and most influential real estate company by the end of 2014.
The strategy, which many see as a “natural”progression for a company with an appetite for acquiring high-priced Western assets, was confirmed by its chairman and founder Wang Jianlin during an interview for the American news channel CNN.
“Our goal is to make Wanda a brand like Wal-Mart, IBM or Google, a brand known by everyone in the world,” Wang said.
A division of the Beijing-headquartered Dalian Wanda Group, the financial and purchasing lines between its parent company and Dalian Properties can be confusing. Both have activities in domestic and commercial real estate, tourism, hotels and entertainment. In China alone the group owns 88 Wanda Plazas, 55 five-star hotels, 1,247 cinema screens and 78 department stores.
Now, Wang admits, his company is shifting its already impressive international portfolio up a gear.
“Our investment department and investment banks are in negotiations with many companies, but nothing is confirmed yet,” said the billionaire, who would not be specific about potential takeover targets other than saying Wanda aims to increase its acquisitions in the culture, entertainment, retail and luxury hotel sectors.
Two years ago the company bought the US movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc for £1.5bn. According to its own website, the Wanda Cinema Line was already Asia’s largest operator and, following the AMC takeover, is now the world’s largest cinema chain.
It is currently investing £653m developing a five-star hotel in London. The new hotel, which has already received the approval of the capital’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, is being built beside the Thames at Vauxhall as part of the Nine Elms regeneration scheme.
In 2013, the company’s revenue surged 31 per cent year-on-year and reached $30.9bn (£18.3bn) — the eighth consecutive year of a plus 30 per cent increase and putting the company on track to hit its 2020 revue target of $100bn (£59.4bn).
But not even a corporation as large as Dalian Wanda is immune from China’s legendary bureaucratic red tape. Last month its attempts at a share issue were delayed when the company’s initial public offering plan was officially terminated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission because the company failed to update its application documents in a “timely manner”. Wanda said after the ruling that it would “continue to seek other methods to go public” in the future.
“Given the large amount of financing demand for the real estate business, it’s very hard for companies like the Wanda Group to go public as a whole,”explained Song Yanqing, chief executive of real estate consulting firm, Lande Consulting Group.
The termination will not have a significant impact on the company’s commercial real estate business, Song said, as the group maintains a strong capability of financing and a standard model of business development.
