Wang Jianlin, another piece of news is spreading.

Two years ago, a guarantee has caused Wang Jianlin to shoulder debts exceeding 3 billion yuan once again.

On May 21st, Yonghui Superstores announced that in the arbitration case involving the company, Dalian Yujin Trading Co., Ltd., Mr. Wang Jianlin, Mr. Sun Xishuang, and Dalian Yifang Group Co., Ltd., the arbitration award document No. Shang Guo Zhong (2024) 3170 issued by the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission has come into legal effect. After the company applied to the court for enforcement, the court issued an "Acceptance Notice" and decided to initiate the enforcement procedure.

Among them, the amount involved in the case is the remaining share transfer price of 3.639 billion yuan, along with relevant liquidated damages, legal fees, arbitration fees, etc.

In response, a reporter from "National Business Daily" (hereinafter referred to as the reporter) contacted the relevant person in charge of Wanda Group, who said "there is no response for the time being."

Enforcement Triggered by a Guarantee

This debt originated from a share transfer agreement in 2023.

On December 13th of that year, Yonghui Superstores announced that it had signed a share transfer agreement with Dalian Yujin, selling 389 million shares of Wanda Commercial Management it held to the latter at a transfer price of approximately 4.53 billion yuan, to be paid by Dalian Yujin in eight installments.

However, the transaction did not go smoothly. Except for the first - installment transfer payment being made on time, from April to July 2024, the second and third - installment transfer payments of Dalian Yujin were overdue consecutively.

As a result, in July 2024, all parties signed a "Supplementary Agreement", confirming that the remaining unpaid transfer price of 3.839 billion yuan would be re - settled in eight installments, with the payment deadline extended to March 31, 2026. Meanwhile, Wang Jianlin, Sun Xishuang, and Dalian Yifang Group provided joint and several guarantees for the payment of the remaining amount.

Even so, the fourth - installment transfer payment of 300 million yuan, which was originally due on September 30, 2024, still failed to be paid on schedule, and the guarantors Wang Jianlin, Sun Xishuang, and Dalian Yifang Group also failed to fulfill their guarantee obligations. In October 2024, Yonghui Superstores filed an arbitration with the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, demanding the one - time payment of all the remaining amount of 3.639 billion yuan, liquidated damages of 218 million yuan, and relevant fees, and holding Wang Jianlin and other guarantors jointly and severally liable. The total amount involved in the case is approximately 3.86 billion yuan.

Finally, on April 14th this year, the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission made a final award, fully supporting Yonghui Superstores' claim: Dalian Yujin must pay Yonghui the remaining share transfer price of 3.639 billion yuan, accelerated - maturity liquidated damages of 218 million yuan, plus legal fees, preservation fees, etc., totaling approximately 3.86 billion yuan; Wang Jianlin, Sun Xishuang, and Yifang Group shall bear joint and several guarantee liability for all the above debts and must fulfill their obligations within 20 days after the award takes effect.

As of May 6th, the 20 - day deadline has passed. Although Dalian Yujin and other respondents have actively communicated with Yonghui Superstores regarding the payment obligation, Yonghui Superstores said that it has not received the payment that the respondents should make. In view of this, Yonghui Superstores has recently applied to the court for compulsory enforcement and the application has been accepted. Yonghui Superstores reminded that there is uncertainty about the recovery of funds in this case, and it is temporarily impossible to judge the specific impact on the company's profits. The final profit and loss shall be subject to the audit results of the accountant. This dispute will not interfere with the company's daily operations.

According to the analysis of CRIC, different from general guarantees, as a joint and several guarantor, Wang Jianlin does not have the right of prior - action defense. If the creditor legally requests the joint and several guarantor to assume the guarantee liability within the guarantee period, the guarantor shall not refuse.

This also means that the court can first enforce Wang Jianlin's property without enforcing the debtor Dalian Yujin.

Wang Jianlin and Wanda Group Deeply Entangled in Debt and Enforcement Troubles

It is worth noting that Wang Jianlin is facing more than just this arbitration case.

In October 2024, the same month when Yonghui Superstores filed an arbitration, Suning E-commerce initiated an arbitration against Wanda Group, demanding that Wanda Group pay the repurchase price of 410 million shares, which is 5.041 billion yuan.

This arbitration originated from a gambling agreement signed between Suning E-commerce and Wanda Commercial Management in January 2018. At that time, Suning E-commerce purchased approximately 3.91% of the shares of Wanda Commercial Management for 9.5 billion yuan, and later signed an agreement with Wanda Group, ultimately holding approximately 4.02% of the shares of Wanda Commercial Management. Suning E-commerce believes that Wanda Group and Wanda Commercial Management violated the agreement, triggering the share repurchase clause but failing to repurchase as agreed, so it initiated the arbitration.

However, in July 2025, Suning E-commerce issued an announcement stating that the arbitration request was not supported by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. However, it said that it will still actively strive for share repurchase and other legitimate rights and interests through legal means such as litigation and arbitration, and will continue to take legal measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests against the cancellation of the arbitration award and further default and infringement matters on Wanda's part.

Following Suning E-commerce, Sunac China also initiated an arbitration against Wanda Group in December of that year, also on the grounds of demanding that Wanda Group and Wanda Commercial Management pay the share repurchase price of 9.5 billion yuan.

However, the reporter learned from an informed source that there is no new progress in Sunac China's arbitration application for the time being.

In recent years, Wang Jianlin and Wanda Group have been deeply entangled in debt and enforcement troubles. Tianyancha shows that as of now, Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group Co., Ltd. has 9 records of being an enforced person, involving an amount of 260 million yuan; Dalian Wanda Group has 6 records of being an enforced person, with the total amount of enforcement reaching 4.732 billion yuan. The enforcement courts include the Shanghai Financial Court and the Beijing Financial Court.

Wanda Group has been continuously promoting its light - asset transformation. For example, in May 2025, Wanda Group packaged and sold 48 Wanda Plazas, with a transaction scale of 50 billion yuan. According to incomplete statistics, as of now, Wanda Group has sold more than 80 Wanda Plazas in total.

Meanwhile, Wanda Commercial Management has been actively involved in overseas financing, but the coupon rate has always remained at a high level of over 11%. For example, on January 30th this year, it issued a 2 - year US - dollar bond worth 360 million US dollars with a coupon rate of 12.75%; on April 23rd, it announced a proposed US - dollar bond issuance with a rate of 12.5%. According to the statistics of CITIC Construction Investment's fixed - income team, the average coupon rate of Chinese real - estate US - dollar bonds in March 2026 was only 4.93%.

This article is from National Business Daily, author: Chen Li. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.