Dalian Wanda Group is selling a 49% stake in Beijing Investment to Hong Kong-listed gaming and film company China Ruyi for 2.26 billion yuan ($31 million).
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, who was once Asia’s richest man, is trying to avoid default on a bond payment with asset sales, and a recent agreement to sell a $315 million stake in an entertainment and film unit may offer investors temporary reprieve after his company’s weakening cash position rocked China’s high-yield market.
Wang’s Dalian Wanda Group is selling a 49% stake in Beijing Investment to Hong Kong-listed gaming and film company China Ruyi for 2.26 billion yuan ($314 million), according to a stock exchange filing late Sunday. Beijing Investment is a shareholder of the Shenzhen-listed Wanda Film. The former has been selling its stake in Wanda Film over the past few months, though it still holds a significant stake in the movie production and theater operator.
Proceeds from the latest sale, which will see Ruyi become an indirect shareholder of Wanda Film, are going to fund the payment of a $400 million bond that matured on Sunday, according to the state-run The Paper, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the matter. Just last week, a Wanda unit has been downgraded by major rating agencies further into junk territory over uncertainties about whether it can pay the dollar bond.
