Dalian Wanda founder and real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin is on a five-day European tour, including a stop in the U.K. where he revealed Dalian's plans for a "major acquisition" in the coming days. (Photo : Reuters)
Dalian Wanda Group Co. Ltd. is set to establish a financial group that would accelerate the acquisition of banks, insurance companies and securities firms in the second half of the year, as it announced plans to transform the conglomerate into a services or e-finance empire by 2018.
Wang Jianlin, chairman and founder of Wanda, made the announcement during a strategy presentation in Beijing on July 11, Saturday.
Wang said that the envisioned financial group will focus on Internet finance, which is a strategy that will differentiate Wanda from traditional financial enterprises.
According to Wang, Wanda will lessen the number of its physical stores, as part of its transformation, to reduce the costs and increase its profits through e-commerce and online payments.
Currently, Wanda conducts business in the financial sector through 99Bill Corp., an online payment service provider based in Shanghai. Wanda bought a 68.7-percent stake in the company for $315 million in 2014.
In June, Wanda and 99Bill Corp. jointly launched an Internet financial product that helped Wanda raise funds for the construction of shopping plazas.
According to Wanda, the crowdfunding effort helped raise 10 billion yuan ($1.61 billion) within two weeks.
In a press release posted by the company on its website on July 11, it said that it will complete the acquisition of three domestic companies and three foreign enterprises in the second half of the year as part of its expansion and diversification. Wanda did not identify any of the companies.
Wanda had spent more than 15 billion yuan in acquisitions in the first half when it first bought a 20-percent stake in Atletico Madrid Football Club in January. In February, it acquired Swiss sports marketing firm Infront, and in June, bought a dozen cinemas in China and abroad.
Wanda also invested 3.58 billion yuan in Tongcheng Network Technology Co., an online travel platform based in Suzhou, on July 3.
Wang said that the group intends to get more than 65 percent of income from services by 2018, as part of the shift away from the current focus on property.
