Wanda to build $9.5 billion tourism complex in China

Updated: 2016-08-26 22:31

(AGENCIES)

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Billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement to invest $9.45 billion to build a tourism and sports complex in eastern China, its latest effort to become an entertainment giant rivaling Walt Disney Co.

It’s Wang’s 13th such large-scale tourism project at home and builds on the tycoon’s ambitions to turn Wanda into a bigger tourism company than Disney by the end of the decade. Wang has been shifting Wanda’s focus toward the entertainment industry in recent years from its roots in real estate.

The park in the eastern city of Jinan will include a 10,000-seat stadium for hockey and basketball, according to Wanda. It will be the company’s first project to have an emphasis on sports, as Chinese firms look to tap into growing interest in areas from soccer and ice hockey to marathon running. Wang has already invested in soccer clubs and sports media globally.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2017 and open in 2021, the company said.

This year, Wanda broke ground on a $2.44 billion tourism "city" in southwest China and opened another park in southeastern Nanchang in May.

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