Alibaba leads $1.24 billion investment in film unit of China's Wanda
7 Feb 2018 4:20 PM IST
Beijing: Troubled Chinese conglomerate Wanda announced on Monday that e-commerce giant Alibaba has agreed to buy a stake in its cinema division for around 750 million, the latest sell-off by the heavily-indebted group.
Wanda Film said in a regulatory filing that Alibaba will buy a 7.66 per cent stake for 4.68 billion yuan, and a holding company controlled by the Beijing government will take 5.11 per cent for 3.12 billion yuan (around 500 million), generating over 1.2 billion for the conglomerate. Following rapid diversification, Wanda ended up mired in debt and under the scrutiny of Chinese regulators, forcing its head Wang Jianlin to sell off parts of his empire.
Last month, it raised 5.4 billion through a stake sale and retail link-up with several investors, including Chinese internet giant Tencent. Wanda Film owns 1,352 cinemas around the world with more than 14,000 screens -- around 12 per cent of the global box office.
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