Dalian Wanda Group Co. is weighing the sale of as many as 20 shopping malls in wealthy areas of China, according to people familiar with the matter, as the indebted conglomerate tries to avert a liquidity crunch.
The company has reached out to prospective investors including insurance companies and asset management firms about divesting some of its malls in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces as well as in Shanghai, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
Wanda is seeking a valuation of about 700 million yuan ($99 million) to 800 million yuan for each mall, depending on their location and business, the people said. A mall in Shanghai could fetch as much as 1 billion yuan as the city’s average household income ranks among the highest in the country, another person said. It’s unclear whether all properties will attract interest from investors, the people said.
The firm may also explore other options for the malls including selling stakes, one of the people said. Wanda may decide to sell more malls in the region depending on investor response, the person said.
Deliberations are ongoing and Wanda could still decide to keep the assets, they added. A representative for Wanda didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The sale plan comes as Wanda braces for a potential cash squeeze if it fails to list its mall operator unit in Hong Kong by the end of this year. As part of an earlier agreement with investors, Wanda may have to repurchase about 30 billion yuan of equity if the initial public offering doesn’t happen by December, according to a regulatory document. Wanda has also been in talks with major Chinese banks on a loan relief plan, Bloomberg News reported in May.
The angst increased this week after the company unveiled plans to downsize some business units. Its commercial management unit’s $400 million dollar note due in July, which was resilient during a selloff earlier this month, plunged to distressed levels. The bonds rallied on Wednesday after Bloomberg News reported that the unit told investors it will consider buying them back.
The conglomerate and its units have at least $1.18 billion of bond obligations that have to be repaid before the end of this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Billionaire Wang Jianlin’s group has businesses ranging from property and hotels to theme parks and cinemas. Founded in 1988, it was once viewed as among China’s few high-quality names in the junk-bond market after paring leverage and selling assets following a debt-fueled buying binge last decade.
Wanda had a total of 473 malls in China as of the end of 2022, according to its website. There were 39 in Jiangsu, 21 in Zhejiang and 14 in Shanghai.
--With assistance from Alice Huang and Emma Dong.
