(Yicai Global) March 24 -- Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group has decided to withdraw its application to list in the Chinese mainland after five years of twists and turns. Analysts predict the unit of Dalian Wanda Group is likely to seek to relist in Hong Kong.

The Beijing-based company plans to reorganize its assets to “achieve a domestic and overseas listing as soon as possible,” according to a statement posted on Wanda Group’s website today. Having already shed its heavy assets, the firm is likely to return to Hong Kong’s stock market, 21st Century Business Herald reported, citing analysts.

Wanda Commercial went public in Hong Kong in December 2014 and was the largest initial public offering in the city that year. At that time, its assets mainly included a number of commercial, residential and other heavy-asset projects. The shares fell below their issue price on the very first day of trading.

The company delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March 2016 after trading below the issue price for half of the more than 600 days it was listed.

The group then filed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission in September 2015 for a mainland IPO. Its major activities then were running department stores and hotels as well as a culture and tourism business, with outstanding ‘real estate’ features.

Due to China’s real estate regulatory policies, the group spun off its heavy assets, including hotels and projects related to culture and tourism, and transformed into an asset-lights commercial management business. After the reorganization, Wanda Commercial changed its listing entity to the operation and management of its commercial complex Wanda Plaza.

The group changed its name to Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group from Dalian Wanda Commercial Property Group on March 2018, completing its change of focus from commercial property to commercial management.

Despite that, the group has had to wait in a line to list on the mainland. The decision to pull its IPO now shows that Wanda Commercial is unwilling to hang around, but will instead seek a more effective way to enter the market.

The average price to earnings ratio of domestic-funded property management companies listed in Hong Kong was 49 times in 2019, and the rate reached 35 folds last year, far exceeding that of property-related firms.

Editor: Peter Thomas