Billionaire Wang wins investors' nod for record HK$34.5b buyout

Beijing

BILLIONAIRE Wang Jianlin has won shareholders' approval to buy out his property unit for HK$34.5 billion (S$6 billion), clearing the way for the biggest-ever privatisation deal in Hong Kong. The unit's shares rose.

The HK$52.80-a-share bid for all of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties' Hong Kong-listed shares was supported by more than 88 per cent of minority investors at a meeting of shareholders in Beijing on Monday, with 7.3 per cent dissenting, the developer said in a statement on Monday. The deal needed a three- quarters majority to vote in favour of the plan and less than 10 per cent opposing it for the plan to go through.