Following the change of ownership of Beijing Wanda Plaza Industrial Co., Ltd., Wang Jianlin officially "got rid of" Wanda Films.
On the evening of April 16, 2024, Wanda Film announced that Beijing Wanda Cultural Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wanda Culture Group") and Wang Jianlin transferred 20% and 1.2% of the shares of Beijing Wanda Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wanda Investment") respectively, and have completed the industrial and commercial change registration procedures.
The transferee of the above shares is Shanghai Ruyi Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ruyi Investment"). Together with the shares previously transferred, the "Ruyi Department" holds 100% of the shares of Wanda Investment.
Since Wanda Investment is the controlling shareholder of Wanda Film, the "Confucian Department" indirectly controls Wanda Film. Ke Liming, the actual controller of the "Confucian Department", replaced Wang Jianlin as the actual controller of Wanda Film through the above methods.
The reporter noticed that the "Ruyi system" controls the Hong Kong-listed company China Ruyi, and the shareholders behind it include Tencent Holdings.
Wanda Films officially changed hands
On July 20, 2023, Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Ruyi"), a subsidiary of China Ruyi, entered into an equity transfer agreement with Wanda Culture Group, stipulating that Shanghai Ruyi will invest 2.262 billion yuan to acquire 49% of the equity of Wanda Investment held by Wanda Culture Group.
On December 12, 2023, Wanda Culture Group, Beijing Hengrun Enterprise Management and Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Hengrun"), Wang Jianlin and Ruyi Investment signed an equity transfer agreement, intending to transfer 20%, 29.8% and 1.2% of the equity of Wanda Investment to Ruyi Investment respectively, with a total transfer price of 2.155 billion yuan.
On January 12, 2024, Beijing Hengrun transferred its 29.8% stake in Wanda Investment to Ruyi Investment and completed the industrial and commercial change registration procedures.
On April 15, 2024, Wanda Film received a notice and learned that Wanda Culture Group and Wang Jianlin transferred 20% and 1.2% of the equity of Wanda Investment held by them respectively to Ruyi Investment, and completed the industrial and commercial change registration procedures.
So far, Wang Jianlin and Wanda Investment have been completely separated, and China Ruyi and Ruyi Investment, which are under the "Ruyi Department", hold a total of 100% of the shares of Wanda Investment.
Wanda Film announced that Ke Liming is the actual controller of the "Confucianism Department", and after the completion of this equity transfer, he indirectly controls 20% of the company's equity through Wanda Investment and becomes the actual controller of the company.
Why did Wang Jianlin "let go"?
Previously, in addition to transferring equity to the "Confucian Department", Wanda also transferred Wanda Film shares to other parties many times.
On July 10, 2023, Wanda Investment and Lu Lili signed a share transfer agreement to transfer 180 million shares of Wanda Film held by Lu Lili, accounting for 8.26% of the company's total share capital, at a transfer price of about 2.173 billion yuan.
On July 18, 2023, Wanda Investment intends to transfer 177 million shares of Wanda Film's unrestricted tradable shares, accounting for 8.14% of the company's total share capital, to Shen County Rongzhi Industrial Management Consulting Center (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Shen County Rongzhi"), with a transfer price of about 2.336 billion yuan.
Previously, industry insiders have analyzed that the receivers, including the "Confucian system", calculated that Wanda was in urgent need of replenishing cash flow, and then came to buy the bottom in a big way.
Now, in order to alleviate the capital needs of the Wanda system, Wang Jianlin can be said to have made up his mind to break his wrist.
Tianyancha shows that on April 11, 2024, Beijing Wanda Plaza Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Beijing Wanda") underwent industrial and commercial changes, and the original wholly-owned shareholder Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group Co., Ltd. withdrew.
According to public information, Beijing Wanda has developed Wanda's first CBD project, Beijing Wanda Plaza. In December 2006, Beijing Wanda Plaza opened, becoming a landmark building in Beijing's commerce.
At the same time, the Wanda department is currently unable to control Wanda Films.
Previously, Wanda Film acquired the equity of Wanda Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wanda Film and Television") by issuing shares to purchase assets, and Wanda Investment and other relevant parties made performance commitments, but Wanda Film and Television failed to complete the performance commitments in 2022, and Wanda Investment and other related parties failed to fulfill the performance commitment compensation obligations.
On March 27, 2024, Wanda Film disclosed the "Decision on Ordering Correction of Administrative Supervision Measures against Beijing Wanda Investment Co., Ltd., Shen County Rongzhi Xingye Management Consulting Center (Limited Partnership), and Lin Ning" issued by the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau.
The "Confucian system" gradually became the master
Looking back at the process of the "Confucian system" controlling Wanda Films, it reflects the indirect and gradual acquisition of equity and the appointment of senior executives to take over related businesses.
On January 29, 2024, Wanda Film held the second extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2024, the fifteenth meeting of the sixth board of directors and the thirteenth meeting of the sixth board of supervisors to deliberate and approve the election of Chen Xi and Gong Qiao as non-independent directors of the sixth board of directors, Yang Hai as the non-employee representative supervisor of the sixth board of supervisors, Ms. Chen Xi as the chairman, and Mr. Yang Hai as the chairman of the board of supervisors.
According to public information, Chen Xi graduated from the Central Academy of Drama with a bachelor's degree in acting, founded Yingyitong Media in 2012, and has served as the president of Shanghai Ruyi, the executive director of China Ruyi since 2015, and is currently the chairman and president of Wanda Film.
As the operator behind this transaction, Ke Liming has gradually become well-known to the public because of his frequent investment in the film and television industry. It is reported that Ke Liming's "Confucianism Department" has previously bet on many popular film and television dramas, including "Langya Bang", "Hello Li Huanying", "Walking on the Moon Alone", "She Who Disappeared", etc.
According to public information, Shanghai Ruyi was established on March 1, 2013 and is an independent production company with a R&D, production and distribution system. The actual controller and major shareholder of the company is Ke Liming, who is also the executive director of Beijing Ruyi Xinxin Film Investment Co., Ltd.
For the "Confucian system", this entry into Wanda Film will help it control the offline channel resources of the film and television industry.
It is reported that from the perspective of the long-term development of the film and television industry, upstream content film companies can actively deploy offline channels when acquiring downstream movie theaters. Especially under the trial implementation of the "split distribution" system in the domestic film industry, filmmakers can independently choose more competitive theaters to schedule films, and Wanda Films has a strong advantage in the theater market.
Source: China Fund News Editor: Xiao M