Ma Jintao saves Wang Jianlin again

Text | Box Lunch Finance, Liu Xingzhi

Editing | Wang Jing

For more than 30 years, Wang Jianlin, the head of Wanda, has many friends, and even more people claim to be his friends, but there are not many "true friends" who are willing and able to pull him in times of crisis. Especially after 2018, Wang Jianlin’s circle of friends, some are imprisoned, some are too busy to care for themselves, and they still expect him to pull a hand.

If the standard of "true friends" is never to leave, Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent, will definitely be on the list of Wang Jianlin’s circle of friends and rank among the top.

On July 21, the shareholders of Beijing Wanda Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wanda Investment") changed, and 49% of Wanda Investment’s equity was transferred to Shanghai Ruyi Film and Television Production Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Ruyi").

On the evening of July 23, the details of the transaction emerged. The buyer, China Ruyi (00136.HK), announced that it had entered into an equity transfer agreement on July 20, and the transaction consideration of 49% of the shares was 2.262 billion yuan.

Wanda Investment is the controlling shareholder of Wanda Film. Including this transaction, this is the fifth transfer of equity assets involving Wanda Film this year. Through these transactions, Wanda has cashed out about 7 billion yuan, part of which is used to "step on the point" to repay the debt. The latest news shows that Wanda has transferred the principal and interest funds of 400 million US dollars of bonds due on July 23.

Why should Shanghai Confucianism and Italy send charcoal in a hurry to solve Wanda’s urgent need to repay its debts? The grass snake gray line is hidden in its capital background.

Public information shows that Shanghai Ruyi is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China RuyiEvergrandeAfter several transactions, Tencent is now the controlling shareholder.

At present, the prospect of Wanda’s listing is uncertain, the debt concentration expires, and the selling of assets to cash in can’t help but remind the outside world of six years ago, also under the pressure of debt, Wanda sold off its assets and "broke its arm to survive". After that transformation and privatization, in early 2018, it was Tencent that took the lead, joined JD.com, Sunac, and invested 34 billion yuan in Wanda to "untie" Wanda and support its valuation.

Wang Jianlin was born in the tail of the planned economy, grew up in Sichuan, joined the army in Jilin, and started in Liaoning; Pony Ma grew up in Shenzhen, the bridgehead of reform and opening up. The two people, who are 18 years apart, have very different personalities and experiences. It is in the tide of private economy that they gradually come to the same end.

After taking the lead in investing in Wanda, Wang Jianlin and Pony Ma have been tied to the same boat. From the "Teng Million" cooperation in 2014, to Tencent’s leading investment in 2018, and then to the current delivery of life-saving money, Wanda’s two most dangerous turns, Tencent’s figure has always been around.

"After years of business and wealth, everything has always come to nothing." This is a poem written by Wang Jianlin many years ago. If not for Pony Ma, the metaphor of "everything" coming to nothing may have come true.

01

The first turning point in the lives of 68-year-old Wang Jianlin and 51-year-old Pony Ma both took place in 1989.

In 1986, Wang Jianlin switched from the army to serve as the office director of the Xigang District People’s Government of Dalian City. In 1989, he came to Xigang District Housing Development Company as the general manager, which was the predecessor of Wanda.

Also in 1989, Pony Ma was admitted to Shenzhen University. Shenzhen University did not have the astronomy department that Pony Ma was most interested in, so he settled for the next best thing and entered the computer major of the Department of Electronic Engineering.

From the perspective of the time, the two people were of different ages and backgrounds, and their life paths were very different, so there was no possibility of intersection. But with the vigorous development of the private economy, the two gradually came together on the road to business.

In September 2013, Hurun rich list, Wang Jianlin with 135 billion yuan wealth, more than Zong Qinghou family, the first time to become the Chinese mainland "richest man", this is the first time the real estate boss to get the "richest man" title. On the list, Pony Ma with 62 billion yuan wealth ranked third, when real estate was in full swing, the Internet is in the limelight, the former’s growth rate made other industries look at, the Internet’s growth rate made real estate developers are shocked.

As a commercial real estate leader, Wanda began to feel pressure from e-commerce platforms. Wang Jianlin once said that he "wants to establish an Internet e-commerce website that is different from Taobao and JD.com".

And Tencent, which has a social empire, also wants to make a difference in the field of e-commerce, so in 2014, facing a common opponent, Wang Jianlin and Pony Ma came together as "e-commerce partners".

In 2014, Wang Jianlin introduced Tencent, Baidu, the three giants announced the establishment of Wanda e-commerce company, Wanda Group held 70%, Tencent, Baidu held 15%, and plans to invest in the next five years 20 billion, to build the world’s largest O2O electricity supplier company.

Wang Jianlin’s expectations for this project are not high, and the lineup of "Teng Million" is also luxurious enough, but this seemingly strong and powerful commercial aircraft carrier is unfavorable. After the first phase of 5 billion yuan of funds burned out, Tencent and Baidu announced their withdrawal, and Wanda E-commerce ended hastily.

The failure of the "Teng Million" alliance is not surprising. The three companies seem to be strong, but none of them have e-commerce genes. The experience of the leading party Wanda in traditional commercial real estate has become a shackle for its e-commerce development.

This cooperation ended without success, Wang Jianlin 5 billion bought a lesson, but also harvested the friend of Ma Yun, this friendship will play a key role in the future.

02

In June 2017, a risk investigation letter from the China Banking Regulatory Commission pushed Wanda to the bottom, and Wanda’s six overseas project financing encountered strict control.

Real estate is a high-wire business, and the financing channel is the balance pole held by real estate developers. The two ends of the pole are assets and liabilities. The investigation of the Banking Regulatory Commission has greatly affected Wanda’s financing ability, and Wang Jianlin has to sell assets.

In July 2017, Wanda’s 13 cultural tourism projects and 77 hotels were packaged and sold to Sunac and R & F. Speaking to the media, Wang Jianlin said: "The transfer of the project can greatly reduce the debt of Wanda Commercial and further realize asset-light operation."

The move to sell assets at a low price has made the outside world question Wanda’s capital chain, but from the logic of buying and selling, Wanda sold assets at the same time, but also quickly reduced its liabilities, without hurting its bones. According to the financial report data, Wanda Group’s revenue in 2018 was 2142.8 billion yuan, completing 101.6% of the annual plan.

Wanda was able to escape from this crisis, except for Wang Jianlin’s decisive means of "breaking the wrist of a strong man", the actions of Pony Ma and others were also contributed.

On January 29, 2018, the official website of Wanda Group announced that Tencent Holdings, as the main sponsor, signed an agreement with Sunac, JD.com, Sunac China and Wanda Commercial in Beijing, planning to invest 34 billion yuan to acquire about 14% of the shares held by investors when Wanda Commercial Hong Kong H shares were delisted. According to this calculation, the total valuation of Wanda Commercial exceeded 240 billion ********ch higher than the 196.50 billion yuan at the time of delisting.

For Wang Jianlin, this financing is "three birds with one arrow". First, this financing solves the problem of overseas debt; second, by partnering with Tencent again, Wanda can tell the story of "new consumption" to the outside world; third, the support of the four giants’ real money allows the outside world to re-see Wandai, and Wang Jianlin can accumulate strength and seek listing again.

According to media reports, the deal was personally decided by the "No. 1" of the parties. Wang Jianlin personally called Pony Ma, Zhang Jindong, Sun Hongbin, and Richard Liu. After the four were basically finalized, they were handed over to the investment department to follow the procedure. The transaction took less than half a month from negotiation to finalization.

At that time, Caixin reported that this was a "marriage-style investment", and the two most important parties in the "marriage" were of course Wang Jianlin and Pony Ma.

Although the previous cooperation ended in vain, the degree of attention that Pony Ma attached to this cooperation only increased. In May 2019, the always low-key Pony Ma, surrounded by security and staff, walked into Wanda Plaza in Beijing Fengtai Science and Technology Park.

And Wang Jianlin, who is known as "never shopping", spent 2 hours walking around the Wanda Plaza side by side with Pony Ma. The online and offline "traffic king" is framed in the same frame, which aroused the imagination of the outside world.

03

However, less than a year after the same frame, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, and both companies were affected. No matter how few of them shared the same frame, the vision of new consumption and smart retail was rarely mentioned again. It was not until the listing of Wanda Commercial Management was blocked and Wanda was once again mired in rumors of a liquidity crisis that Pony Ma’s figure reappeared behind Wang Jianlin.

In 2018, Wanda Commercial renamed itself Wanda Commercial Management and divested its real estate development business. In 2021, Wanda Commercial Management divested its business again, further lightening its assets, and seeking to re-list through its subsidiary Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management.

In order to promote the listing, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management has introduced a strategic financing of up to 38 billion yuan in 2021, and the investor lineup is luxurious, including CITIC, China Merchants Group,Country GardenWait, Tencent is also among them.

However, Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management has failed three times in a row and submitted its fourth statement on June 28 this year.

The IPO time table has been delayed frequently. In addition to facing the pressure of failing to gamble and repaying tens of billions of investment funds with principal and interest, under the influence of pessimism, Wanda has once again fallen into a liquidity crisis. On June 28, Wanda Commercial Management announced that the registration process of 6 billion yuan corporate bonds previously applied for issuance was suspended, and Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and other institutions have also downgraded Wanda’s rating.

In order to re-prop up the "balance pole", Wang Jianlin had to sell assets again. Since March this year, Wanda’s companies have transferred shares and assets related to Wanda Film five times, cashing out about 7 billion yuan. The latest transaction, the opponent is China’s Confucianism controlled by Tencent, and Tencent’s living water has once again flowed to Wanda.

Of course, this time to help Wanda, not only Ma Yun alone, in July 11th, Wanda investment also 2.173 billion yuan trading consideration to the Oriental wealth controller wife Lu Lili transferred 180 million shares of Wanda Film stock.

In fact, under the accelerated recovery of the entertainment industry, Wanda Film is currently one of the few chips for Wang Jianlin to ease liquidity pressure. IPG China Chief Economist Bai Wenxi told Lunch Finance that Wanda Film is currently one of the listed company targets under Wanda Group that are of good quality and easy to strategically transfer or reduce holdings in exchange for repayment.

In addition to selling cultural assets, in May this year, Wanda also plans to sell a payment license for 1 billion yuan to rescue the emergency. Douyin Zhang Yiming is a potential buyer. At present, the two parties have initially contacted, and the transaction has not yet been settled.

For more than 30 years, Wang Jianlin has had both highs and lows in the market, and he has also been used to the ups and downs of his partners and competitors. Since 2013, Wanda has cooperated with real estate companies such as Sunac, R & F, Vanke, and has also intersected with Internet upstarts such as Baidu, Tencent, and Ali. However, in the two important turns of Wanda, only Tencent has always "never left".

From a business perspective, Wang Jianlin has keenly observed the huge changes brought about by the Internet to business, and Pony Ma also realized that online development must ultimately serve offline, which is the basis for the cooperation between the two. In an article published by CCTV recently, Pony Ma said that "the role of the platform economy in empowering the real economy, promoting technological innovation and exploring the international market is increasingly prominent".

The common goal of the two sides is only the basis for cooperation. At present, Wanda wants to sell assets, and the top Internet companies are the few buyers who have the strength to take over.

Of course, the only buyers who are capable and willing are not Ma Yun. Wang Jianlin’s Moments may welcome new members, such as Zhang Yiming, but under the long-term deep interest binding, Ma Yun may be the most important old friend of Wang Jianlin at present.

References:

"Wang Jianlin’s troubles: the road ahead for Wanda Commercial Management to go public is unknown, and Wanda Film’s equity is constantly being sold" Titanium Media

"Teng Million" broke up, Wanda’s e-commerce road collapsed? "China Net

"Wanda financing breaks the deadlock, leading the four giants to target listing within five years" Caixin

"The four giants’ investment in Wanda Insider: Wang Jianlin communicated by phone one by one, and Ali did not vote against it"

"Exploring the store Wang Jianlin Ma Yun joined hands with the" smart square "traffic king cooperation is not easy" Beijing Business Daily