Dalian Wanda [TRDataCustom] subsidiaries’ stocks slumped amid rumors that the property and entertainment giant ran afoul of Chinese politicians.
Wanda Properties International’s share price fell 10.7 percent Thursday and Wanda Film Holding’s stock tumbled 10 percent, Bloomberg reported.
“Political risks are the factor that is most difficult to evaluate in China. Even it is just a rumor, investors will choose to sell off first,” Core-Pacific Yamaichi HK researcher Castor Pang told the news website.
The rumors come as another Chinese real estate investor, Anbang Insurance Group, faces its own issues with regulators and banks were ordered to stop doing business with it.
Wanda, led by billionaire Wang Jianlin, owns no major properties in New York and closed its local office in 2015. But when Jianlin met with Mayor Bill de Blasio last year he indicated that could change. According to the company’s website, he “expressed his interest in investing in New York’s hotels, tourism and cultural sectors.”
Wanda made U.S. headlines in 2012 when it bought the AMC Loews movie theater chain for $2.6 billion. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier