Struggling China Vanke To Sell Off Businesses At Popular Ski Resort

China’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics has given a big boost to its ski industry. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

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Struggling China Vanke, one of the country’s largest real estate developers, plans to sell the operations of a popular ski resort to a majority state-owned tourism and travel company, according to a filing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Eyeing growth in China’s ski industry, Hong Kong-listed China Travel International Investment has agreed to pay 295 million yuan, or $41 million, to a subsidiary of China Vanke for 100% ownership of Jilin Songhua Lake International Resorts, the operator of Lake Songhua Ski Resort. The Jilin company also owns the Lake Songhua Resort, the Seibu Prince Hotel, Zhanyun Salomon Hotel, Qingshan Apartment and “a business town,” China Travel International Investment said in the filing.

China Travel International Investment, also through its CTS Scenery subsidiary, would additionally pay five million yuan for full ownership of of Beijing Wanbingxue Sports, whose business covers ski resort development and planning, construction consulting, operation management, marketing promotion and ski coaching. It manages nine well-known ski resorts, the announcement said.

“This project is in line with the company’s development strategy for urban and leisure resort products,” China Travel International Investment said. “It represents an important choice to seize historic opportunities, cultivate new growth poles, and expand into the snow economy. The project as a whole is of high strategic significance.” The company earlier said it has planned to hold 75% of each of the two businesses.

China’s ski industry has enjoyed rapid growth in the past decade following the country’s winning bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The number of skier visits at domestic ski resorts climbed by nearly 13% in the year ending April 30 to a record 26 million, according to the China Ski Industry White Paper. Lake Songhua Ski Resort is located in northeastern China’s Jilin province, one of the country’s top ski regions. What has been billed as the world’s largest indoor ski resort was set to open in Shenzhen, a rich southern tech hub, on Sept. 29.

Fitch Ratings, the rating agency, in August downgraded China Vanke’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings amid the country’s current real estate supply glut. “The downgrade reflects further weakening in China Vanke’s liquidity,” it said. Fitch believes “timely and continued support” from Shenzhen Metro Group, China Vanke’s largest shareholder, “is essential for China Vanke to address its financial obligations, as Fitch forecasts its free cash flow to remain negative in the near term.” China Vanke’s Hong Kong-traded shares have lost more than 80% of their value from a 2018 all-time high.

The purchase could help add needed life China Travel International Investment’s scenic revenue. In the first half, business was “affected by factors such as consumption segmentation, lack of new products and activities, and climate change,” resulting in a year-on-year decline in overall revenue and profit, according to China Travel International Investment’s interim report.

Among Chinese companies eyeing winter sports growth has been sportswear maker Anta Sports, chaired by billionaire Ding Shizhong. An Anta-led group purchased Europe-based Amer Sports in 2019, gaining ownership of some of the world’s most popular winter sports brands including Arc’teryx, Salomon and Atomic. Among U.S. firms with a large China ski industry presence, Vermont-based snowboard maker Burton is the No. 1 snowboard brand in the country, the China Ski Industry White Paper said.

Hong Kong’s stock market is closed for China’s National Day holiday today.

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