Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group is to invest more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) to buy a British yacht maker and to build a top-end hotel in central London, in a bid to expand its overseas presence.
 

The company said on Wednesday that it will pay about 320 million pounds to acquire a 91.81 percent stake in Sunseeker International Ltd , a Dorset-based luxury yacht manufacturer which is famous for providing yachts for James Bond movies.
 

The remaining 8.19 percent stake will be acquired by Sunseeker's management team. The deal is expected to be completed by mid-August.
 

Wanda Group also said it will invest 700 million pounds to build a five-star, 160-room hotel on the South Bank overlooking the Thames River.
 

The investment marks the company's second major step in its overseas expansion strategy.

 

Wanda set the current record for the biggest Chinese takeover of a US company when it bought the AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc cinema chain for $2.6 billion last year.

"We choose the most developed economies in the world, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, as our top destinations for overseas expansion," said Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda Group, which reported revenue of 141.7 billion yuan ($23.1 billion) last year.

"We'll not rule out investing in other developing countries, but we prefer to do our global expansion moves in well-developed markets with well-established laws and regulations," Wang said, adding the company's overseas operations are expected to contribute to the company's total revenue by 2020.
 

Wang added that he's very confident about the potential of China's luxury yacht market.

 

Related News in Chinese: 中国万达集团10亿英镑投资英国 购游艇公司建五星酒店

 

 

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