China's real-estate giant Dalian Wanda Group has purchased payment services company 99Bill Corp for over $300 million, the company announced on Dec. 26, Friday.
The Beijing-based conglomerate, whose real-estate arm recently raised nearly $3.7 billion in a Hong Kong share sale, did not disclose the amount it paid for its investment. Sources familiar with the deal reports said that the deal is expected to be valued at over 2 billion yuan ($322.55 million).
In an earlier statement, Dalian Wanda's chairman and property billionaire Wang Jianlin said that they are shifting their focus toward online business as well as tourism and entertainment, a move which insiders say aims to help the conglomerate maintain profitability during China's property downturn.
Wang also said at a conference in December that they would announce plans for the group early next year.
Earlier in August, Dalian Wanda partnered with China's two major Internet services giants, Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc., in an e-commerce venture promoting the use of e-vouchers, e-coupons and e-tickets at the group's Wanda Plaza shopping malls, luxury hotels and movie theaters in 111 Chinese cities. Dalian Wanda is reportedly set to invest 5 billion yuan and hold a 70-percent stake in the venture.
"O2O (online to offline) is the biggest pie in e-commerce," Wang said. "This is just the beginning."
The acquisition of 99Bill, whose payment processing services are similar to that of PayPal, also pits Wang against Alibaba founder Jack Ma and his Alipay unit, which controls approximately 80 percent of the mobile payment market in China.