Wanda mulls sport unit IPO and sale of overseas assets: sources
The IPO would most likely take place in Hong Kong, but bankers have also pitched for a US listing, according to the sources
Dalian Wanda Group is considering a Hong Kong listing for its sports assets as part of efforts to rationalise its portfolio that could also include other sales, according to five sources who talked exclusively to Reuters.
The conglomerate last month tapped investment banks for a potential initial public offering of its sports businesses, three of the sources said. Citic Securities, China’s largest brokerage, is one of the banks involved, added one of them. A spokesman for Citic Securities declined to comment.
Wanda’s businesses range from real estate to football and cinemas but it has been rattled in the past year as Beijing tightens control over companies’ offshore investments and high leverage. The company is owned by Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men.
In November the Chinese conglomerate said it was offering to sell all five of its large-scale projects in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Sydney and Australia’s Gold Coast, to a single buyer for an estimated US$5 billion.
An IPO of Wanda’s sports assets would include Infront Sports & Media AG, a Swiss sports marketing company and World Triathlon Corp, the organiser and promoter of the Ironman race, according to three of the people. The two were acquired in 2015 for US$1.2 billion and US$650 million respectively.
The share offering would also include Wanda’s smaller sports assets in China, such as cycling and basketball leagues, one of them said.