Chinese Conglomerate Dalian Wanda Mulls Singapore REIT Listing: WSJ

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group is planning to list one of its real estate businesses in Singapore, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The report, which cites information from anonymous sources familiar with the development, says that the Singapore IPO could value the unspecified collection of properties, which would be structured as a real-estate investment trust (REIT), at more than $1 billion.

Owned by one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin, Dalian Wanda is a real estate holding company that develops commercial property including commercial centres, urban pedestrian streets, hotels, office buildings, and apartments. It also operates tourism investment, cultural, and department store businesses.

Despite its reputation as an active acquirer of businesses in China and overseas, the company has lately been unloading assets in an effort to reduce its corporate debt. Earlier this year, Dalian Wanda said it had sold all 37 of its remaining department stores for an undisclosed sum to private electronics retailer Suning.com.

In total, the company has sold over $9 billion in assets, including hotel and theme park properties, since 2017, partly prompted by the Chinese government’s policy of restricting lending and overseas acquisition.

This year, the company is setting its sights back on investing in China and focusing on building leisure and commercial facilities.

In May, Dalian Wanda Group announced plans to spend 80 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) in the northeastern city of Shenyang, the biggest of the mainland investments it announced in the past six months.

The capital will be used to build a cultural tourism project, a hospital, an international school and five Wanda Plaza commercial complexes, the conglomerate said in a statement on its website.