China's Dalian Wanda may price Hong Kong IPO in top half

China's Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties will probably price its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in the upper half of expectations, IFR reported citing a message from underwriters to investors.

The world's second-largest developer of shopping malls and office buildings has offered 600 million new shares in the floatation, in a range of HK$41.80–HK$49.60 apiece, Reuters reported.

At the higher end of expectations, Dalian Wanda will raise HK$29.8bn ($3.84bn, £2.45bn, €3.1bn). The proceeds will be used to expand the firm's overseas footprint.

Pursued by the news agency, Dalian Wanda, backed by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, did not immediately respond to an e-mail, requesting comment on the IPO bookbuilding.

Earlier in the month, the property developer was compelled to cut the size of the offering by at least a third after investors balked at the high valuation. The firm had initially targeted to raise up to $6bn.

Wang, 60, has a net worth of $13.2bn according to Forbes.

Dalian Wanda Commercial, the flagship company, operates 89 shopping malls and 48 hotels across China, according to a 16 September pre-listing filing.

Investment banks tend to communicate with fund managers during the bookbuilding process of an IPO, to inform them as to how the process was progressing and whether investors must adjust their bids to increase their chances of allocation.