Twilight of the Giant Ship: Wang Jianlin eventually loses Wanda

There is no phase

2024-04-08 16:29Published in Anhui

Before Qingming, Wanda quietly completed a 60 billion project.

PAG Investment Group, a Hong Kong-based private equity investment company, together with CITIC Capital, Mubadala Investment Company and other investment companies, injected about RMB 60 billion into Dalian Sundar Alliance Commercial Management Co., Ltd., holding a total of 60% of the shares.

PAG representative Huang Dewei said happily:

This is certainly the largest investment in the Chinese market in the last five years, without one.

According to the agreement, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management will become a subsidiary of Sundar Alliance.

This means that the core of Wanda Commercial and its control are no longer in Wang Jianlin's hands.

Shan Weijian, chairman of PAG, was a student of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and he was one of the first international students to study in the United States after 1976.

Maybe it's because he's experienced pain, but he's also enjoying other people's pain.

Its investment strategy can be summed up in two words:

Dip the bottom.

In 1998, when South Korea's largest private bank, First Bank of Korea, was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the financial crisis, and Xinqiao Capital, led by Shan Weijian, seized the opportunity to make a purchase at a price of $500 million at the most painful time for the other party.

Five years later, Newbridge Capital sold Korea First Bank to Standard Chartered Bank for the following price:

$3.3 billion.

Since then, Shan Weijian has earned the title of "King of China's Private Equity", and he is also a well-known name in the Korean investment community.

This time, Shan Weijian came prepared.

In 2022, Shan Weijian first gave Wanda $2.8 billion, got a 10% stake, and made Wanda's valuation before listing reach 180 billion.

Once Wanda is successfully listed, it will redeem a huge amount of equity to achieve a win-win situation.

However, Wanda did not succeed in listing on the A-share market, which led to the failure of both parties to eat good fruits.

The money is invested, what should I do, I can't waste it, right?

Shan Weijian decided to eat big, and suddenly united with many investment funds to win 60% of Wanda's equity.

It's either life or death.

Shan Weijian is gambling on his reputation, and Wanda's move is comparable to selling himself.

Is Wang Jianlin ready to pick a pick?

Why do you sell the business empire you have created at this juncture?

From the perspective of PAG, the 60 billion is copied from Wang Jianlin.

However, in the world, there are only those who buy by mistake, and there is no one who sells by mistake.

For Wang Jianlin, today's Wanda Plaza is already a hot potato, and if you take it for a while, you may get hot on your hands.

In July 2000, Wang Jianlin had just entered the real estate industry.

Different from the routine of ordinary developers, Wang Jianlin's focus is on "commercial complexes".

The first Wanda Plaza opened in Changchun, and on the opening day, it attracted countless citizens.

Ordinary people have never seen this kind of business form, there are supermarkets, game halls, cinemas, KTVs.

A square that encompasses almost all the eating, drinking, and merrymaking.

Since then, Wanda Plaza has become the most popular commercial complex in Changchun.

In the following year, another 5 plazas also came out one after another, mostly distributed in the urban core business districts of major cities, with a single commercial building with a construction area of about 50,000 square meters, and supporting a number of commercial building complexes connected by commercial pedestrian streets.

Wherever there is Wanda, a large-scale commercial center can basically be formed, completely replacing the department stores of the past.

On December 22, 2006, the first store of the third-generation Wanda Plaza opened in Ningbo Yinzhou Wanda Plaza.

The third-generation Wanda Plaza has sunk from the first and second-tier cities to the third- and fourth-tier cities in the country, including county-level cities with consumption power, and the site selection has also changed from the original core business district to the new urban area and suburbs, and is equipped with five-star hotels and super high-rise office buildings, forming an independent large-scale business district and urban complex in the new development area.

The construction area is generally more than 500,000 square meters, and some areas can reach one million square meters.

Wherever there is a Wanda place, you can sing willow words.

Wang Jianlin also once believed: "Wanda Plaza is the center of the city. ” 

It is also true that this emerging consumer plaza can already independently create a new center and new business district of the city.

In the past, Japan called this model "HOPSCA", which means "city within a city" that integrates the five core functions of commercial retail, business office, hotel and catering, apartment residence, and comprehensive entertainment.

For a long time, many counties have listed the introduction of commercial entities such as Wanda Plaza as the number one task in attracting investment.

When it was the hottest, how strong was Wanda's appeal?

In 2010, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province decided to build Jiangbei New Town, and for this reason, municipal organs, public security and law agencies have moved there.

But it wasn't until 2 years later, with the introduction of Wanda Plaza, that the new district gained popularity, so much so that Sedum became the housing price highland in Nanchang.

In 2014, Wanda's 100th plaza was located in Kunming's Xishan.

In 2019, Wanda's 300th plaza opened in Xianning, Hubei Province.

What started as a small ship turned into an aircraft carrier in just a few years.

Wang Jianlin, the captain of the ship, was at full speed, and Wang Sicong in the ship roared at the sea:

"I don't care if he has money or not, I don't have any money anyway. ”

Flew 6,000 kilometers in one day, passed through 2 countries, and signed a 50 billion contract.

Wake up at 4:00 a.m. and head to the airport at 5:45 a.m. for a meeting on the plane to study the project.

When he returns to the office in the evening, he also takes care of some unfinished business and goes to bed at 10 p.m.

Behind the workaholic of the 100 billion president is Wang Jianlin's eagerness.

In 2006, Wang Jianlin realized that China's urbanization was developing at a rate unprecedented before and since.

"Wanda has to be fast!"

"If you work hard, maybe the world's best companies will come out. If you take a break from breath, play golf or bubble clubs. Looking back in five years, the opportunity may be gone. ”

A person's success is often the crucial few years.

Wang Jianlin, who seized the historical cycle, quickly expanded through high debt and rapid expansion, and quickly laid out more than 300 Wanda Plazas across the country.

"Wanda plays karate, and you can make money without paying a penny. ”

In 2017, Wang Jianlin said that he would also speed up the aircraft carrier.

"With China's urbanization dividend decreasing, it is no longer possible to build another Wanda in China. ”

In the limited bonus period, the most dividends were eaten, and in the second 10 years of Wanda Plaza, the commercial tentacles covered more than 80% of the prefecture-level cities and more than 30% of the county-level cities in the country.

In 2021, Wang Jianlin has built more than 400 Wanda Plazas in more than 200 cities in China.

But on the contrary, Wanda's debt has reached 600 billion!

With Xu Jiayin's loneliness, Wanda had no choice but to start a clearance sale.

In fact, Wang Jianlin had already foreseen the risk in advance, and he began to sell assets long before the Evergrande thunderstorm.

In 2017, Sunac Sun Hongbin spent more than 43 billion yuan to buy the bottom and won 13 Wanda Cities.

At that time, Lao Sun was still very proud: "Lao Wang worked hard for ten years, and I picked the fruit." ”

Later, Wang Jianlin sold 77 of his hotels and 2 billion Wanda Properties.

But even so, Wang Jianlin's worth has dropped from 210.6 billion at the peak to 30 billion now.

Shrinkage by 8 percent!

The cycle of history is full of rise and fall.

I wanted to hit the A-share listing in exchange for a big resurgence, but history has no assumptions.

After the high-level rejected Wanda's listing, there was only more than 10 billion Wanda left in their hands, and the "wall down" mode was opened.

Wanda executives have resigned, Wanda Cinema Line has also been transferred to Alibaba, and its cultural tourism city project has also been sold to other real estate.

The situation is stronger than the man.

Wang Jianlin, who is nearly seventy years old, has disappeared in front of the media camera for a long time, and the last time he appeared in the public eye, the biggest feature of Lao Wang is:

lost dozens of pounds.

Compared with the previous rich state, it is judged like two people.

"It's hard to buy old and thin", Lao Wang, who has always been known for his self-discipline, may be deliberately "thin".

In 2019, Wang Jianlin once said that Wanda Commercial is the core of Wanda, and any enterprise can be released, but Wanda Commercial cannot be released.

As long as Wanda Commercial is there, Wanda Group can "let the wind and waves rise, and sit firmly on the fishing boat".

But so far in 2020, Wanda has sold 15 Wanda Plazas.

Nowadays, almost all of the more than 400 Wanda Plazas have been put on the shelves, and these are Wang Jianlin's heart.

On January 14, 2024, Wanda held a rather shabby annual meeting in Beijing.

Lao Wang stressed that one of the main tasks in 2024 is to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Then he walked off the stage with a straight face.

This is an era when bosses are shouting to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

It was also an era of decline in large shopping malls.

On the eve of the Qingming holiday, the first financial reporter found that in just over 3 months, 10 old department stores have been "killed" this year.

One of the reasons for this is that shopping malls are no longer favored by merchants.

According to the report, 58.8% of the sample enterprises believe that "high operating costs and low profits" are the main challenges faced by shopping mall enterprises.

In addition, declining footfall has been a common challenge in the retail industry in recent years.

Even Macy's in the United States, across the ocean, is laying off a large number of employees and closing hundreds of stores.

In today's network economy, online shopping and takeaway have greatly impacted the popularity of commercial complexes.

Commercial Plaza has ushered in its worst era.

Wang Jianlin likes to sing Cui Jian's songs very much, including "Nothing", and he has also sung it publicly.

"The ground under your feet walks,

The water around you is flowing,

But you always laugh at me,

Nothing. ”

When did this era pass?

No one can give a definite answer, and as Wanda does today, no one knows where it will go.

Wang Sicong once talked about Wang Jianlin: When he was a child, his father was always very busy, but on the day he went to the UK to study, he still went to the airport to see him off.

At the end, he sent Wang Sicong four words: revitalize China.

China will always be revitalized, but what about Wanda, who will revitalize Wanda?

View original image 91K

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•