Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda is selling off the majority of its overseas hotel and development projects as its overseas debt worries pile up, according to Bloomberg. A quarter of the company’s $2 billion overseas debt is due in March.
Deals to sell three of Wanda’s five global projects-in London, Sydney and Australia’s Gold Coast respectively-have already been completed or are nearly done. That would leave the company with only its office and apartment complexes in Chicago and Beverly Hills in the US.
Paying off the $510 million of bank loans by the end of March would once have been easy for Wanda, which has invested huge amounts in high-profile assets including AMC Entertainment since 2013. But most of the company’s money is now trapped inside the Chinese mainland due to the country’s exchange controls.
“Although its onshore liquidity position is strong, uncertainty over its ability to transfer money offshore adds to the refinancing pressure,” said Kaven Tsang, a credit analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, which cut the rating of Wanda Commercial to junk in September.