Wang Jianlin, he has many friends at critical times

Author: Guo Ruyi

来源：商业人物（ID：biz-leaders）

Lao Wang deserves to be Lao Wang.

In the past two days, a news that "Dalian Wanda Commercial Management's 16.2 billion shares have been frozen" has made Wang Jianlin the focus again. Just when the people who eat melons speculated about Wanda's fate, the latest developments show that Wanda has reached an agreement with the disputing party, and the frozen equity will be unfrozen soon.

This time, Wanda annoyed the Yangzhou branch of Minsheng Bank. Due to a dispute over a financial loan contract, the bank applied to freeze this part of the equity before the lawsuit. I don't know what Wanda did, which quickly made the plaintiff angry.

Wang Jianlin should be no stranger to the freezing of equity. A few days before this incident, Dalian Wanda Commercial Management had 5.07 billion shares frozen, and the enforcement court was the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, and the freezing period was from March 4, 2024 to March 3, 2027. In fact, this part of the equity was frozen in July last year, and it was also unfrozen shortly after.

From 2021 to the present, there have been many Wanda-related equity freeze cases, and under normal circumstances, the equity freeze will not affect the continued exercise of shareholder rights, nor will it affect the actual control of the company, but for a company like Wanda that wanders in sensitive areas, the frequent news of equity freezes is estimated to have a significant impact on confidence.

Fortunately, these equity freezes can basically turn the danger into a disaster, and Wang Jianlin's ability to cross and close in a short period of time is still slightly higher than that of his peers.

One of the most famous ones is the dispute with Vanke in June last year. At that time, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management hit the Hong Kong stock market, but it was suddenly revealed that Wanda Group's 1.98 billion shares in Dalian Wanda Commercial Management were frozen.

And the reason for Yu Liang's action is very simple - money.

In July 2020, Vanke took a stake in Changchun North Film Capital Investment Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Wanda, with a shareholding ratio of 15%. The company is responsible for the development of real estate projects in Changchun International Film Metropolis, and after entering the market, Vanke is ready to build a large market called "Vanke Starlight City", with a total construction area of 688,000 square meters.

According to the envisioned script, Wanda is responsible for the commercial real estate part of the project, and Vanke is responsible for the residential part, and everyone makes money together. But it's a pity that the two sides broke up in the end, and there was a dispute over the end account of more than one billion. In this case, Vanke applied to the court to freeze the above-mentioned equity of Wanda. It is worth mentioning that the frozen equity corresponds to 128.7 billion net assets, accounting for one-third of Wanda's net assets.

Still, things turned out well. Just over a month later, Vanke's financial dispute with Wanda was settled, and Wanda's frozen equity was quickly unfrozen. Of course, the terms of the reconciliation between the two sides are unknown, and in any case, Wang Jianlin let the difficult Yu Liang let go.

In a way, Wang Jianlin can be called Wanda's chief crisis public relations guru, and at every critical moment, he can either get a rival or bring in friends to help the company tide over difficulties. Especially "friends", Wang Jianlin really has no shortage of them.

In July last year, Wang Jianlin, who was looking for money everywhere, ushered in a new friend. At that time, Wanda Investment, the controlling shareholder of Wanda Film, signed an equity transfer agreement to transfer 180 million shares to a woman named Lu Lili at a transfer price of 12.07 yuan per share, cashing out about 2.2 billion yuan. Relying on the sale of shares to return 2.2 billion is a shortcut for Wanda.

After the completion of this equity transfer, Lu Lili will become the second largest shareholder of Wanda Film in one fell swoop. Ms. Lu is not an ordinary person, she is the actual wife of the founder of Oriental Wealth, and the market laughingly said that it was the "boss lady" of Dongcai who pulled Wang Jianlin. On the 2023 Hurun Global Rich List, it actually ranks 211th on the list with a wealth of 67 billion yuan.

In December last year, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management's listing script finally had a new plot, and the thunder on Wang Jianlin's head was removed. At that time, the one who let Wang Jianlin go was called Shan Weijian.

He is a well-known partner in the private equity investment world, and in 2021, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management introduced external investors, and PAG invested 18 billion yuan, accounting for nearly half of the total investment. Under the listing bet, he should be the investor that Wang Jianlin hopes to loosen up the most.

Shan Weijian did not disappoint Wang Jianlin. At the last minute, PAG Investment, together with other investors, signed a new "treaty" with Wanda, which lifted the VAM crisis. How Wang Jianlin persuaded the other party is a mystery. What can be seen by the outside world is that after the signing of the new treaty, Wanda lost its absolute controlling stake in Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management.

In Wanda's continuous "selling, selling, selling" last year, there was also a person named Ke Liming who took over in time to help Wang Jianlin recover.

Also in December last year, Wanda Film announced that it would change hands, and the actual controller would be changed from Wang Jianlin to Ke Liming. The specific transaction is that Wanda transferred 51% of the equity of Wanda Investment, the controlling shareholder of Wanda Film, to a company controlled by Ke Liming. The transfer price is 2.155 billion. Ke Liming is 40 years old and worked in investment banking earlier, and later joined the film and television industry. His Chinese Ruyi has invested in many high-grossing films in the past two years.

As Wanda's high-quality asset, Wanda Film has served as Wang Jianlin's cash-out weapon several times, and as the company changed hands, his film dream had to be abandoned.

Until now, although Wanda has reported the news of money shortage from time to time, it has never publicly defaulted on the thunderstorm. This performance should be related to Wang Jianlin's various personal business, the opponent is willing to reconcile, the friend is willing to stand up, even if he has a little blood, it is much better than no one cares.

According to the just-released 2024 Hurun Global Rich List, the wealth of Wang Jianlin's family continued to shrink, falling to 30 billion yuan. Similar to him, the wealth of Country Garden's Yang Huiyan family has also plummeted, and their status on the wealth list is different from before. Not only that, Country Garden is also involved in the equity freezing case, and more than 10 billion shares were applied to the court for property preservation by the project partner.

And Wang Jianlin is still fighting for more chances of survival for Wanda. Recently, Wanda Commercial Management has set up a housing rental company and entered this hot field at the moment. Wanda Plaza is also sold from time to time, and the number has now risen to 14. According to Wanda Commercial Management's existing bond information, Wanda's debt repayment pressure in the short term is still not small, and the old Wang in 2024 will continue to forge ahead.

*Title image | Visual China