Wanda drops £470 million London purchase after state instructions on acquisitions

Dalian Wanda Group, magnate Wang Jianlin’s sprawling property conglomerate, has backed away from its third overseas acquisition in less than a year, taking the cue from last week’s government instructions directing Chinese companies’ outbound investments.

Wanda wasn’t the buyer of the 10-acre plot of land in London’s Nine Elms district that Vinci St Modwen sold for £470 million (US$593 million), according to a statement.

“The buyer is another company. Not Wanda,” Wanda said in its statement, without elaborating. Guangzhou R&F Properties and CC Land Holdings have bought the plot from Wanda, Bloomberg reported separately, citing R&F’s corporate finance director Michael Lee.

Vinci St Modwen, a venture between St Modwen Properties Plc and Vinci Plc, said on June 22 that it had exchanged contracts with Wanda Commercial Properties Hong Kong Co. Ltd. to sell its interest in the Nine Elms Square site, on which Wanda was aiming to develop about 1,900 homes, retail stores and leisure units near Battersea Power Station.

Wanda’s bonds and stock prices plunged following the June announcement, setting in motion a series of regulatory scrutiny and checks on the company’s borrowings, ultimately leading to the largest disposal of real estates in China to finance the conglomerates loans. Wanda sold its hotels and theme parks for US$9.5 billion last month.