Wang Jianlin sold the entire headquarters of Wanda

Author | Cao Anxun

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Sixteen years ago, Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Wanda Group, moved the group's headquarters from Dalian to Wanda Plaza on Jianguo Road in Beijing in a high-spirited manner. This also became a key moment in Wanda's development history, marking the beginning of the "Century MALL era" for Wanda, and Wang Jianlin embarked on the road to becoming China's richest man.

Sixteen years later, the failed Hong Kong IPO and liquidity pressures have plagued Wanda. Wang Jianlin lost absolute control of the core asset, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management, and now even the headquarters that once witnessed Wanda's glory has been sold.

According to enterprise data platform Qichacha, on April 9th, there was a business change in Beijing Wanda Plaza Industrial Co., Ltd., which owns Beijing Wanda Plaza.

The original wholly-owned shareholders Dalian Wanda Commercial Management, Xiao Guangrui, Hou Hongjun, and other Wanda executives have exited, and in their place are Kunhua (Tianjin) Equity Investment Partnership Enterprise (Limited Partnership) holding 99.99% of the shares, and Kunyuanchenxing (Xiamen) Investment Management Consulting holding 0.01%.

Through equity penetration, it can be seen that behind Kunhua (Tianjin) are New China Life Insurance and China International Capital Corporation, holding 99.9% and 0.1% of the shares, respectively.

Wanda confirmed this news to Wall Street News and revealed that although there has been a change in property rights at Beijing Wanda Plaza, Wanda Group still operates there.

In line with Wanda's sale of other Wanda Plazas in different cities, Wang Jianlin's move is aimed at alleviating Wanda's liquidity pressures.

Beijing Wanda Plaza was Wanda's first CBD project, and the change in ownership is truly a reflection of the prolonged period of pain after Wanda's failed IPO.

Over the past year, due to the failure to complete a gambling agreement, Wanda's capital chain has been under pressure, leading Wang Jianlin to seek opportunities everywhere. He has overcome this challenge, but at a very painful cost, with assets representing his dreams of movies and yachts changing hands one after another within a year, including over ten Wanda Plazas.

Even the absolute controlling stake in Wanda Commercial Management, the listed entity of Wanda's light asset business, was reluctantly relinquished by Wang Jianlin. In March, he secured a lifeline of 60 billion yuan from investors such as Temasek and Middle Eastern tycoons, reaching a new cooperation agreement without a gambling clause, which to some extent eased Wanda's financial pressure. Wang Jianlin finally freed himself from the gambling crisis that had plagued him for 7 years.

While losing core assets is indeed regrettable, Wang Jianlin's demonstrated will to survive and determination to defend his credit over the past year have preserved the dignity of a generation of business tycoons and won the support of creditors and investors.

Creditors holding Wanda's non-standard debts pointed out that Wang Jianlin's bold move to sell assets to resolve the gambling crisis was very courageous, and they are willing to exchange time for space. They revealed that the process of negotiating an extension last year was tumultuous, but eventually reached an agreement at the last moment, with both sides compromising, extending for 1 year, and maintaining the original credit enhancement and interest rates.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes that Wanda's intensive asset sales have brought in a large amount of cash flow and demonstrated the market's recognition of Wanda's business value. In particular, the participation of institutions such as Temasek and China International Capital Corporation has undoubtedly injected new vitality into Wanda For Wang Jianlin, after the alleviation of the funding chain crisis, he also needs to consider how to maintain good operational performance and funding chain amidst the shrinking assets of his commercial empire, so as to instill firm confidence in his new and old allies who choose to believe in him again.

With old strategic investors like Country Garden exiting Wanda Commercial Management in Zhuhai, driving the restructuring of Wanda Commercial Management's equity structure is a necessary step for Wanda to successfully go public and achieve long-term stable performance.

Currently, with the frequent favorable industry policies and the release of consumer potential, the China Index Research Institute predicts that the commercial real estate market is expected to gradually recover by 2024.

Cai Yun, Secretary-General of the Commercial Culture and Tourism Real Estate Professional Committee of the China Real Estate Association, recently stated that commercial real estate, due to its long-term stable rental income, is a major direction for the future development of the real estate industry.

She estimates that the market size of narrow commercial real estate (referring only to retail properties, office properties, and hotels) is around 40-50 trillion yuan, accounting for approximately 30% of the country's physical assets.

On the other hand, after years of transformation, Wanda's ability to output light assets has become a bright spot for Wanda Commercial Management. According to the prospectus of Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management, as of the end of 2022, Wanda Commercial Management had 472 managed projects, with a total of 184 independent third-party commercial plazas managed under the light asset model.

As the current market shifts to a stock market, emphasizing management capabilities, property owners place greater importance on real estate companies' light asset operation and urban operation capabilities. Wanda can also rejuvenate itself through the transformation to light assets.

However, as the first-generation real estate tycoons led by Wang Jianlin age and go through trials and tribulations, they may retreat or sell core assets for self-rescue, and their legends will gradually be sealed into history.

Times change. A brand new real estate world has already begun