China’s Dalian Wanda has raised $3.7bn in Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering this year — the most recent in a late rush of big deals that have driven the city into second place globally as a capital-raising centre.
The pricing gives the group’s property unit, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, a market capitalisation of about $24bn, making it the second-largest pure commercial developer globally behind Simon Property Group of the US, worth $56bn, but ahead of Australia’s Westfield at $15bn.
Commercial property is the core of the Wanda group, founded by Wang Jianlin, China’s second-richest man and who is more recently known for his interest in buying a Hollywood film studio and his $1.2bn purchase of a plot on Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard.