The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE, April 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Wang Jianlin has found the hottest new shoppers in town: Middle East funds. The Chinese tycoon, chair of Dalian Wanda and once the region's richest man, is handing 60% of his shopping mall manager to new and existing investors for $8.3 billion. It helps Wang avoid a funding crunch and underscores how buyers and sellers in the People's Republic are increasingly looking for a petrodollar safety net.

The consortium revealed on Saturday that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala will join the blockbuster deal outlined in December. The funds from the United Arab Emirates will provide a significant part of the new money. Existing investors, including Asia-focused buyout firm PAG, China's CITIC Capital and Ares Management ARES.N, are rolling some proceeds from an earlier investment into the purchase. They invested $5.9 billion in the mall business in 2021; Wanda owed them around $4 billion plus interest after failing to list the unit in 2023.

It's the first big sign that the efforts of Chinese officials to woo Middle East money into the world's second largest economy is starting to pay off. The sovereign funds are stepping into a giant gap where US investors fear to tread as relations between Beijing and Washington sour. That pullback has left China-focused private equity firms struggling both to offload assets and to raise new pools of capital.

The new investors appear to be getting a decent deal. The implied $13.8 billion enterprise value for the holding company is around half the sum the business comprised of 496 large-scale shopping malls in China was valued at three years ago, and also reflects slower growth prospects. Net profit grew a robust 18% in 2023, albeit half the pace of the previous year.

The financial investors will have to wait longer for an exit but they will control a business that is paying dividends and they will be in a better position to float it when China's capital markets reopen to large deals; Swiss chemicals company Syngenta called off plans on Friday for its potential $9 billion Shanghai listing.

Wanda was a trailblazer for China's outbound investments, it might also be a leading indicator that Gulf money is finally coming.

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CONTEXT NEWS
A consortium of investors led by Asia-focused buyout firm PAG detailed on March 30 a plan to invest $8.3 billion for a 60% stake in Newland Commercial, the largest shopping mall manager in the world and part of China's Dalian Wanda Group.

Part of the deal was outlined in December, and the latest announcement reveals new investors include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala.

Newland is the newly formed holding company of Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management. Dalian Wanda took its commercial property business private in 2016, announcing the plan some 15 months after the company was floated in Hong Kong. PAG, CITIC Capital and Ares and others invested $5.9 billion in August 2021.

The Chinese group was due to repay about 30 billion yuan, roughly $4 billion, plus interest, to the existing investors if Zhuhai Wanda shares were not listed before the end of 2023. The existing investors are rolling over an undisclosed sum into the deal.

(Editing by Una Galani and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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anshuman.daga@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: anshuman.daga.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))