Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese multinational conglomerate with businesses ranging from property development to cinemas, has confidentially filed for the IPO of its sports unit, Reuters reported citing unidentified sources.
The company’s sports unit includes World Triathlon Corp, which conducts and promotes the reputed Ironman Triathlon sporting events. The Ironman Triathlon is widely considered one of the toughest single-day sporting events across the globe.
According to the filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company plans to raise anywhere between $300 million and $500 million through the public listing, which is expected to happen in the first six months of this year, the source said.
The company is yet to give an official statement on the same.
Dalian Wanda Group is one of China’s largest business establishments and is headed by Wang Jianlin, who constantly features in the country’s list of richest businessmen. The company is headquartered in Beijing.
The source added that Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Group and Citigroup are working on the IPO filing, though none of the banks were available to comment on it.
Chinese companies have been actively taking up US IPOs despite the trade tensions emerging between the two nations. According to data from Refinitiv, Chinese firms raised a total of over $9 billion from US listings last year.
Last month, the music streaming arm of Tencent Holdings, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. The company raised about $1.1 billion in its IPO, making it the fourth largest Chinese IPO in 2018.