Dalian Wanda Group said on Tuesday it had scrapped plans to buy Nine Elms Square in London, the latest setback for the Chinese conglomerate as Beijing tightens controls on overseas investment.
An executive at Guangzhou R&F Properties, who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that R&F would instead buy the property.
It would be the second time in a matter of weeks that the Chinese developer has stepped in to take over assets from Wanda, owned by one of China's richest men, Wang Jianlin.
Squeezed for finance, Wanda last month agreed to sell 77 hotels to R&F for 19.9bn yuan (€2.54bn) and 91% equity in 13 tourism projects to Sunac China for 43.8bn yuan (€5.6bn).
China launched a clampdown on capital outflows and overseas direct investment last year, and Wanda, a property-to-entertainment giant, has been one of the companies most affected.
Chinese banks have been told to stop providing funding for several of Wanda's overseas acquisitions in order to curb its appetite for offshore deals, according to sources familiar with the matter.
R&F, together with CC Land, is in a consortium to buy Nine Elms, according to a source directly involved in the deal. The price will remain at £470m (€512.4m), the person added, and because the deal is done offshore it does not require approval from Chinese regulators.
