Wanda Confirms Sale Of Edificio España To Baraka For €272M

26 July 2016 – Cinco Días

The Wanda Group has confirmed that it has reached an agreement with the Murcian group Baraka (the investor group owned by Trinitario Casanova) to sell Edificio España for €272 million, but it has made it clear that the deal has not been formalised yet, according to a statement presented to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The price represents €7 million more than the €265 million that Wanda spent when it acquired the property in 2014.

In its statement, Wanda echoed the information circulating in the press that the Group owned by Wang Jianlin has reached an agreement with Baraka to sell Edificio España and it detailed the terms of the sales agreement reached with the Spanish group.

The company owned by Wang Jianlin stated that on 12 July, Wanda European Real Estate Investment and Baraka Global Invest signed a “memorandum of understanding” relating to the negotiation and possible sale “of all of the issued shares, amounting to €272 million.

Under the framework of this memorandum, continued Wanda, Baraka has paid €1 million as a deposit to the Chinese group, which grants the buyer exclusive rights to proceed with the sale until 15 October 2016. Next, it added that the sale is still “under discussion and consultation and is subject to a final agreement between the parties”.

For this reason, it warned that “investors should pay attention to the possible sale, which may or may not go ahead”.

Abandoned plans

The Chinese group put Edificio España up for sale after giving up on its plans for the property, citing technical difficulties. Wanda had wanted to remodel the building to construct a hotel, shopping centre and luxury homes.

The main obstacle was that the Town Hall required the Wanda Group to maintain the façades of the original building.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake