Chinese real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin acquires AMC Entertainment - Economic Times

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Hollywood studios, facing steep challenges in the North American movie market, are taking more interest in China. The Walt Disney Co. and Marvel Studios, a division of Disney's Marvel Entertainment subsidiary, are producing Iron Man 3 in China, News Corp. recently bought a stake in Bona Film Group in Beijing and an agreement with Chinese authorities will allow more US companies to distribute more movies and reap a greater share of the box office in China, the world's biggest market.

But at least one billionaire businessman is betting that the US movie market is still the ticket to international success. And he is Chinese.

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One-way ticket

Wang Jianlin, a rags-to-riches tycoon, is taking over AMC Entertainment, North America's second-largest movie theatre chain behind Regal Entertainment. And he is promising to integrate it into a new, made in China, global brand called Wanda Group.

Wang, 57, is regarded as one of the most successful Chinese real estate tycoons. His $17-billion empire includes huge commercial property developments, five-star hotels, tourist resorts, a film and television production company and Asia's largest cinema network.

Now, by paying $2.6 billion to acquire AMC, the Wanda Group is extending its reach globally. The deal, announced on Sunday, is still subject to the approval of US regulators, although there are no hints it will be blocked. The purchase signifies a new era for Wang and in China's development. Companies in China are moving away from low-cost manufacturing and going abroad in search of natural resources and global consumer brands, part of an effort to upgrade the nation's economy.

In an interview at his spacious headquarters in Beijing, Wang, said he was pondering his next international destination: Europe. "We're already negotiating," he said.

Wanda is a private company in a nation dominated by state-owned enterprises. But the AMC deal is closely aligned with the Chinese government's priorities, which include encouraging Chinese companies to "go global", pushing an overhaul of Chinese media and entertainment properties and placing greater emphasis on consumer spending.

Policymakers in Beijing also want to bolster China's "soft power" capabilities to extend its cultural influence internationally, and the film industry is considered one of the most promising venues for doing so.

But whether Wanda, a 24-year-old enterprise with little international experience, can make a success of such a big acquisition and create a global property and entertainment brand is debatable, analysts say.

Wanda's vision

"China has great entrepreneurs," says Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing-based investment advisory firm. "But the question is: how will they take these companies international? Are they going to be willing to learn and adapt?"

One of the biggest experiments in this area is being undertaken by Wang, a former army officer who has turned a tiny real estate venture into a national brand. Wanda, which started in Dalian, a north-eastern city, and moved its headquarters to Wanda Plaza in Beijing, is a colossus with 183 million sq.ft. of land under development or operation. In 1988, Wang - who entered the army at 15 - says he left a job as a local government official in Dalian and borrowed $80,000 to start a business he now describes as a "sprinting elephant."

That few Chinese companies have managed to establish global brands is of little concern to Wanda's chairman. And buying a stake in a company focused on a quintessentially US experience - moviegoing - seemed hardly daunting for a man who survived the Cultural Revolution, a period of social and political madness in China.

Wang usually hits his targets, he says. The company has experienced 30% growth in the past year, even in a down market. And he promises that by 2015 the Wanda Group will have overall revenue of about $30 billion.

Which raises the question: why invest in the US cinema market at a time of weakness, when box office receipts are sluggish and US film producers are looking to China?