The encyclopedia · Finance & Accounting · Financial decision · 2017
Wanda built 13 theme-park cities — then sold them all in one afternoon
On 19 July 2017 Wanda sold 91% of its 13 Wanda City tourism projects to Sunac and 77 hotels to R&F for ¥63.75B — a fire sale to save the group.
Wanda Group · 万达集团 · Sunac · R&F · 2017-07
What happened
For years Wanda's signature ambition was the Wanda City: giant tourism complexes pairing theme parks with malls, hotels and shows, built across China. Then the credit tightened. Facing a liquidity crunch and roughly ¥200 billion of loans and bonds, Wanda needed cash fast.
On 19 July 2017 Wang Jianlin signed a three-way deal: Sunac bought 91 percent of the 13 Wanda City projects for ¥43.844 billion — the projects also took on about ¥45.4 billion of existing loans — and R&F bought all 77 Wanda hotels for ¥19.906 billion. Total: ¥63.75 billion of assets, gone in one signing.
Wang called it a win for all three sides: Wanda cut its debt and moved toward an asset-light model, Sunac and R&F gained scale. It was the moment China's build-everything property era visibly turned.
Why it happened
- Roughly ¥200B of loans and bonds against tightening credit left no choice but to sell assets at speed.
- The heavy-asset model — parks, hotels, malls built simultaneously — burned cash faster than it returned it.
- The structure kept shifting under pressure: the hotel package moved from Sunac to R&F just days before signing.
The lesson
Wanda traded its entire tourism empire — 13 park cities and 77 hotels — for ¥63.75B in one afternoon, because leverage that builds fast also matures fast.
Aftermath
Sunac and R&F took over the parks and hotels; Wanda repositioned as an asset-light operator managing properties it no longer owned.
Sources
- 澎湃新闻, 2017-07-19 — 万达77个酒店出售给富力，融创将花438亿买13个文旅城 (signed 19 July 2017; Sunac bought 91% of 13 Wanda City projects for ¥43.844B with the projects assuming ~¥45.4B of loans; R&F bought 77 hotels for ¥19.906B; total ¥63.75B; deal reduced Wanda's debt and improved liquidity; Wang Jianlin called it a win for all three sides; after the sale Wanda Commercial's loans and bonds totalled ¥200B against ~¥170B cash)
- 万达集团官网, 2017-07-19 — 万达融创富力签订战略合作协议 (official Wanda announcement of the tripartite agreement: 77 hotels transferred to R&F for ¥19.906B; 91% equity of 13 cultural tourism projects transferred to Sunac for ¥43.844B; total transaction ¥63.75B)
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