Real estate tycoon now mainland's wealthiest

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Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group. [File photo]

Real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin, 58, has replaced beverage giant Zong Qinghou, 67, as the wealthiest man on the Chinese mainland - worth an estimated US$14 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.

After ranking 10th in 2011 and third last year, the founder and chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, whose businesses include property, retailing and entertainment has finally come out on top.

However, he has a long way to go to match the world's richest man.

Carlos Slim, who tops the 2013 Forbes Billionaires List, is worth US$73 billion.

China, with 122 members on that list, has the second-largest number of billionaires in the world.

Based on figures available last Friday, Wang's fortune shot up by US$6 billion from last year to surpass Zong's by US$3 billion after his core business unit Dalian Wanda Commercial Property benefited from its purchase of a majority stake in Hong Kong-listed Hengli Commercial Properties, according to Russell Flannery, Forbes Shanghai bureau chief.

Dalian Wanda Commercial Property, in which Wang and his company hold a 64 percent stake, currently owns 72 Wanda Plaza shopping centers and 40 five-star hotels.

The central government has introduced curbs aimed at cooling the real estate market, but the commercial property market is less affected by them than the residential one.

Having long been developing its entertainment arm, which operates one of the largest movie theater chains in China, Dalian Wanda Group acquired US cinema chain AMC Entertainment for US$2.6 billion last year and is now pushing for its initial public offering to raise US$400 million in the US.

In the UK, the group completed the acquisition of British yacht builder Sunseeker last month and is said to have plans to build London's tallest residential towers.

"Wang's expansion abroad is part of a larger wave of overseas investment by Chinese businesses," said Flannery.

Last week, China's Shuanghui Group received US approval to acquire meat producer Smithfield for US$4.7 billion.