The company, backed by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, is offering 600 million new shares in a range of HK$41.80–HK$49.80 each, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication reported on Saturday. That would give the company a market value of between $20.8 billion and $24.7 billion, IFR said, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
It had initially targeted to raise up to $6 billion, Reuters previously reported.
Wang, 60, China's fourth-richest man with a net worth of $13.2 billion, according to Forbes, plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund the expansion of an empire built at speed using cheap government land. He has already opened 100 Wanda Plaza mixed-use developments from 21 just four years ago.
The IPO is set to be launched on Dec 8, with pricing slated for Dec 15. Even at the bottom of the range, Wanda's will be the second-largest IPO in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan this year.
The company did not respond to email seeking comment.
The IPO comes at a time when Chinese real estate sector is battered by a slump, with slowing sales and a high debt burden pulling down corporate earnings. Dalian Wanda's net profit fell 47 percent in January-June to 4.97 billion yuan ($808 million) due to a decline in the fair value gain of its properties.
The price range represents a 46-54 percent discount to Dalian Wanda's 2015 estimated net asset value and 2015 price to earnings (P/E) multiple of 7.4–8.9, IFR reported. Chinese real estate companies trade at median P/E ratio of 5.93, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Wang, a former member of the People's Liberation Army, plans to take the developer into the world's 10 largest cities over the next decade, beginning last year with Los Angeles, Chicago, London and Madrid.
CICC and HSBC are joint sponsors for the deal, while CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS are active bookrunners. BOC International and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are the other two key banks on the transaction with a number of other joint bookrunners.
