Entering the year 2025, seven Wanda Plazas have already changed ownership. From 2023 to 2024, more than 30 Wanda Plazas were sold off, but whether Wang Jianlin can overcome financial pressures by selling assets remains uncertain.
According to reports from Titanium Media on January 23, as we enter 2025, Wang Jianlin continues to sell off his Wanda Plazas, with 7 already changing hands at the beginning of the year, averaging one sale every two days. At the same time, Wang Jianlin has engaged in a new equity pledge operation, pledging all 2.4 million shares of Dalian Wanda Group that he owns, with Zhuhai Winyou Enterprise Management Company as the pledgee.
Titanium Media believes that at the beginning of the year, by pledging equity and accelerating the sale of Wanda Plazas, Wang Jianlin’s move indicates the pressures and efforts he is facing in dealing with financial stress.
Among the 7 Wanda Plazas sold this year, insurance-backed real estate private equity fund Kunhua (Tianjin) Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) has acquired three, adding to the 9 Wanda Plazas it acquired last year, bringing Kunhua Fund’s total ownership of Wanda Plazas to 12.
In addition, several insurance companies such as Xinhua Insurance, Sunshine Insurance, Dajia Insurance, and Hengqin Life have participated in acquiring Wanda Plazas. Of the more than 30 Wanda Plazas already sold by Wanda Group, these insurance companies have collectively acquired 21.
Wang Jianlin has repeatedly sold off Wanda Plazas for cash mainly due to debt pressure in 2024.
On October 10, 2024, Yonghui Supermarket announced a claim against Wanda for 5 billion yuan; on October 22, Suning.com requested that Dalian Wanda Group pay back repurchase funds amounting to 5.04 billion yuan; at the end of December 2024, Sunac China filed for arbitration against Wanda Group, demanding payment of 9.5 billion yuan for share repurchase funds, all of which have exacerbated Wanda’s financial situation.
Reportedly, for Wang Jianlin, the crisis facing Wanda extends far beyond this. With billions of frozen shares and tens of billions in execution payments, coupled with external debts coming due, Wang Jianlin seems to have no other choice but to resort to pledging shares, speeding up the sale of Wanda Plazas for cash flow, as there appears to be no other way to alleviate the urgent situation at hand.
Apart from selling Wanda Plazas, the Beijing headquarters building has also been sold off, the luxury yacht company known as the “Rolls-Royce on the Sea” is seeking buyers at half price; additionally, overseas assets like Atletico Madrid and AMC Theatres that belong to Wanda are quickly put on the market once suitable buyers are found; even the Wanda Film Group, a core asset of the group, has been sold off.
However, Titanium Media believes that whether Wanda can escape its predicament through asset sales remains a question yet to be answered.