Dalian Wanda Group, controlled by China's richest man Wang Jianlin, is offering HK$34.5 billion $4.4 billion in cash to buy out its Hong Kong-traded commercial property unit, as it looks to take the business private less than two years after a $3.7 billion listing.
The proposal comes after the shopping-mall developer slashed it projection for 2016 contracted sales by almost 40% to Rmb100 billion $15.2 billion as it seeks to pull back from tier-3 and tier-4 cities, where the build-up of inventory is most severe after years of excessive investment.
People familiar with the matter say the long-anticipated move reflects the far higher valuations available...