In a sudden turn from a deal announced last week, China’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. said it would sell its hotel assets to R&F Properties of Guangzhou.
Last week, Wanda said it was selling 76 hotels, some land and other projects for US$9.3 billion to Sunac China Holdings Ltd., with Wanda retaining management of the hotels and in the process shedding debt and scrutiny over of its loans.
The original deal was altered after banks reviewed the credit risk of the deal, according to Reuters.
Wanda now says that it will sell 77 hotels in China to R&F for 19.9 billion yuan (US$2.95 billion), and 91% equity in 13 tourism projects to Sunac China for 43.8 billion yuan (US$6.50 billion).
Sunac had earlier said it would use its own funds for the Wanda deal including the hotels, with Wanda using the proceeds to pay back loans. “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,” Wanda owner Wang Jianlin told a Chinese news agency last week.
