Wanda said to be poised to raise USD3.7b in HK IPO

Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co., China’s biggest mall developer, plans to sell shares near the top end of a marketed range to raise about USD3.7 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Beijing-based Wanda Commercial plans to sell 600 million shares at HK$48 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The shares were offered at HK$41.80 to HK$49.60 each, according to the company’s IPO prospectus. No final decision has been made and pricing could still change, one of the people said.
Wanda Commercial, controlled by billionaire Wang Jianlin, is raising money in Hong Kong’s biggest IPO in two years to build new projects after China cut interest rates to spur growth. The company, founded in 2002 in northeastern China, will use about 90 percent of the proceeds to fund the development of 10 malls across the nation, the prospectus shows.
Kuwait Investment Authority and China Life Insurance Co. each pledged to invest $300 million in the IPO, while Och-Ziff Capital Management Group will buy $250 million of stock, the document shows.
Cornerstone investors account for more than half of Wanda Commercial’s offering. Such investors typically agree to hold their stock for at least six months in return for guaranteed allocations.
Wanda Commercial had 159 “Wanda Plaza” malls across 110 cities at the end of June, including 71 fully completed projects, the prospectus shows. It is the flagship of closely-held Dalian Wanda Group Co., which also runs a department-store chain, tourism businesses, a Chinese cinema operator and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. in the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal reported the pricing earlier yesterday, citing unidentified people. A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Wanda Commercial declined to comment.
Wang has a net worth of $15.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Fox Hu, Bloomberg