Malton group, Dalian, EPF to team up for job?

Keen interest: Wang is speculated to be bidding for the Bandar Malaysia project. – Reuters

HEADQUARTERED in Beijing, Dalian Wanda Group a multinational conglomerate founded by China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, is speculated to be bidding for the Bandar Malaysia project together with the Malton Group headed by Tan Sri Desmond Lim.

Sources say that there is a possibilty of the Employees Provident Fund being part of the team.

Shares linked to Lim – namely Malton Bhd and WCT Holdings Bhd – saw active trading. Malton was up 18 sen to close at RM1.55 while WCT increased by 12 sen to finish the day at RM2.31.

“Lim and the Malton group have in the past been associated with the Bandar Malaysia project. The foreign partner at that time was said to be Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of that country,” said a source.

However, QIA no longer put its money into iconic property development projects.

Set up in 1988, the Dalian Wanda group focuses on four major industries namely commercial property, culture, Internet and finance.

Under the leadership of Wang, 63, who has been chairman of the group since 1989, Dalian Wanda has grown to become the world’s biggest private property developer and owner, and the world’s largest cinema chain operator. The group wholly owns Wanda Cinemas in China and Hoyts Group in Australia, as well as a majority stake in US-based AMC Theatres.

In its website, Dalian Wanda says its vision is to become a world-class multinational corporation with assets of US$200bil (RM867bil), market capitalisation of US$200bil, revenue of US$100bil and net profits of US$10bil by 2020.

Last year, the group’s assets stood at 796.2 billion yuan (RM500.7bil), with an operating revenue of 255 billion yuan.

Dalian Wanda was ranked 385th on the Fortune Global 500 List in 2015.

The group’s property division Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2014. The exercise, which raised US$3.7bil. Wang has a net worth of US$30.6bil.

At present, its unit – Wanda Commercial Properties – is the world’s largest commercial property enterprise, holding a combined 32.33 million sq m of property space. It has opened 187 Wanda Plaza projects in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Kunming with plans to open 50 more in China this year.

In its cultural division, the company’s Wanda Cultural Industry Group is considered to be China’s largest cultural enterprise, with an annual revenue of 64.1 billion yuan in 2016. Through its subsidiaries, the company operates cinemas, film industry parks, performing arts, film technology entertainment, theme parks and karaoke venues. It also offers film production, publications, media, art collecting and cultural tourism services.

In the Internet segment, the group’s Wanda Internet Technology Group is China’s only Industry + Internet large open platform. It has Ffan Technology, 99Bill, Credit Rating Company, Online Credit Company, Big Data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and scene application. In the financial segment, Wanda Financial Group has investment, asset management, insurance and other companies. It aims to achieve a fully-licensed financial operation.