Billionaire owner of Dalian Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin, who said it would take over Walt Disney Co as the world’s top theme park operator, has seemingly acknowledged it is a battle he cannot win.
Dalian Wanda is offloading its tourism and theme park projects and hotel assets in a huge $9.3 billion deal to Tianjin based Sunac China.
In a move to reel in debt, Dalia Wanda is selling a 91% stake in thirteen theme park projects and 76 hotels but will retain management rights.
Wanda had plans for about 20 theme and cultural parks with three already open.
Wanda said Sunac will be responsible for all the loan repayments on the projects, but the brand name and design will remained unchanged.
"Through this asset transfer, Wanda Commercial’s debt ratio will be greatly reduced, all the proceeds will be used to repay loans. Wanda Commercial plans to repay most of the bank loans this year," Wang said.
Dalian Wanda also has interests in commercial real estate, the film industry and sports venues.
Sunac and Wanda are expected to finalise an agreement by the end of this month.
