China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, this week surprised many by offloading 13 cultural tourism projects and 76 hotels in his enormous conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group's tourism portfolio to the property developer Sunac based in Tianjin near Beijing for a sum of US$9.3 billion.
The move shocked the local market, although the decision to sell came after Wanda was first investigated for suspicious financial dealings and then cleared by regulators in recent weeks.
It is not clear if the sell-off would affect the company's latest project, the $6bn Harbin Wanda City, which comprises a theme park, a theatre, shopping mall, post residential buildings, hospital and the world's biggest indoor ski resort.
Mr Wang has made waves in recent years with high-profile purchases such as the Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment for $3.5bn and later AMC Theatres for $2.6bn, which made him the biggest movie exhibitor in the United States. He has also acquired some major London properties, including a £80 million (Dh377.9m) home in upmarket Kensington in 2015. But he faced a rare setback early this year when he was forced to abandon a $1bn takeover of Hollywood-based Dick Clark Productions.
Explaining his decision to sell off a major chunk of his tourism portfolio, Mr Wang said all proceeds from the deal would be used to repay loans and lower the group's debt to asset ratio. Wanda has been under pressure from a high level of debt and is looking to pay off as much of its bank loans as possible by the year end and clear all its debts within the next three years,
The deal is a step closer for Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, the property unit of Wanda, to relist on the mainland and cash in on higher valuations on domestic markets after it delisted in Hong Kong last year.
The sell-off has given rise to speculation about whether Mr Wang was preparing to move deeper into the property market and list the division of his company to take advantage of the high prices available currently in the mainland and Hong Kong, as well as elsewhere such as London. But a section of the market feels he was forced to lighten his debt and get rid of doubtful assets to avoid government investigations becoming a serious problem.
The deal will boost the net worth of the acquiring company, Sunac, by nearly 300 per cent, market sources say. However, there are also concerns that Sunac's level of debt, which has been fuelled by its acquisition spree, will rise sharply. A Bloomberg analysis says Sunac's debt rose 162 per cent in 2016. Whatever, the acquisition will have to pass the test of shareholders' approval and regulator's scrunity before it goes through.
In recent months, China has enhanced controls against capital flight, ordering companies to stay away from foreign acquisitions in what the government regards as non-priority areas such as entertainment and sports. This was seen as a veiled criticism of Wanda's recent purchases of football clubs, film and television production facilities and property across the world.
The new sell-off will lead to a major shift in Wanda's business focus and possibly result in the company investing more within the country than overseas. Wanda and Sunac say there are synergies in their businesses, particularly the portion of Sunac's investments in LeEco, the Chinese multinational technology conglomerate founded by Jia Yueting. This year, LeEco raised some $2.2bn of fresh capital and said it will use a portion of that to buy up the Chinese film production company, Le Young Pictures.
"Sunac's investment in LeEco may fit well and create synergies with Wanda's ambition of developing innovative and asset-light business. This may make the deal a winning growth formula for both parties," says Hannah Li Wai-han, a strategist at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong.
Analysts are also asking if authorities had a role in bringing about this deal because the government closely monitors the property market; the low profit levels and high debt burden of Sunac would normally put off companies from venturing into a deal of this size.
Investors may do well to be cautious. On Monday, CreditSights maintained its “underperform” on Sunac, notes citing its aggressive and debt-reliant model.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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The%20specs
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Match info
Uefa Nations League A Group 4
England 2 (Lingard 78', Kane 85')
Croatia 1 (Kramaric 57')
Man of the match: Harry Kane (England)
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Kill%20
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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The%20Sandman
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Francesco Totti's bio
Born September 27, 1976
Position Attacking midifelder
Clubs played for (1) - Roma
Total seasons 24
First season 1992/93
Last season 2016/17
Appearances 786
Goals 307
Titles (5) - Serie A 1; Italian Cup 2; Italian Supercup 2
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD%204
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
