Sunac chairman allays concerns over Wanda deals

Chairman of Dalian Wanda Group Wang Jianlin and Chairman of Sunac China Holdings Ltd Sun Hongbin attend a strategic cooperation signing ceremony in Beijing, July 19, 2017.[Photo/Agencies]

Allaying concerns over cooperation between real estate developer Sunac China Holdings and Dalian Wanda Group, Sun Hongbin, Sunac's chairman, said the real estate industry will have a stable and healthy development in the future.

The pillar industries of consumption upgrade, such as culture, tourism and entertainment, will experience an explosive growth, Sun said on his Sina Weibo account, adding that Sunac is optimistic about the future of China's economy.

Sun said that in the near term the company plans to pause or slow down the acquisition pace, speed up deleveraging and reduce the debt ratio in a bid to ensure a healthy and stable Sunac.

"We think highly of enterprises' destocking and deleveraging, as well as the stable development of the financial sector. China's economy will usher a balanced prosperity."

People don't need to worry about Sunac, Sun said. "Earlier we suffered losses due to cash flow problem so now we know its importance and are paying attention to it. Stability is the top priority of Sunac," he said.

Moreover, Sunac understands when to go ahead and when to pull back, Sun said. For example, the company plans not to buy land at the open market from October, and wait for opportunities of mergers and acquisitions, he added.

"Third, we have strategy, and we know how to implement it," Sun said.

On July 19, Wanda signed a deal with Sunac China and Guangzhou R&F Properties in Beijing. In a joint announcement, Wanda said it would sell 77 hotels in China to Guangzhou R&F Properties for 19.9 billion yuan ($2.95 billion), and a total of 91 percent equity in 13 tourism projects to Sunac China for 43.84 billion yuan.

Earlier this year, Sun invested 15 billion yuan and became the second-largest shareholder of Chinese tech group LeEco's listed company, Leshi Internet Information & Technology. On July 21, Sun was appointed as chairman of Leshi.