Weeks before Haryana hosts a global investor summit in March, the state has received investment commitments from eight Chinese companies, with the Dalian Wanda group looking at investing $10 billion in an industrial park at Kharkhoda in Sonipat, outside Delhi.

Promoted by Wang Jianlin, the richest Chinese in 2015, the group claims to be the largest real estate developer in China with ownership of the largest number of 6,000 cinema screens across the world.

Sixty-one-year-old Jianlin, who served in the Chinese Army for 16 years till 1986, met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Friday during the latter's visit to Beijing. The group will invest $10 billion to develop a comprehensive industrial park known as "Wanda Industrial New City".

Haryana's industry minister Captain Abhimanyu told Business Standard from Beijing a preliminary agreement was signed between the Wanda Group and Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation on Friday. The final agreement will be signed after the terms and conditions are agreed upon by both sides. He said there was no proposal of any equity participation by the Haryana government in the project.

The first phase of the city will come up over an area of approximately 13 sq km. Wanda will be responsible for investing in the project's initial infrastructure. In addition, it would attract other international and Chinese industrial, tourism and residential companies to operate in the park, said a Haryana government press release.

THE GROUP AND THE MAN

WHO IS WANG?

Son of a Communist military hero, Wang served in the People's Liberation Army between 1970 and 1986

In 1988, borrowed $80,000 to start business in the port city of Dalian

In 1989, founded Dalian Wanda, a real estate firm

In April 2015, named Asia's richest man by Bloomberg

Soon after, named world's 20th richest individual by Forbes

At work, insists on iron discipline and enforces conservative dress code

A noted karaoke fan, Wang owns 54 karaoke centres

$24.9 billion*61Real estate, entertainment* As of 1/22/16 according to Forbes

In January he bought 20 per cent of Spanish soccer team Atletico Madrid and in August he purchased the US organiser of Ironman Triathlons for $650 million. Wang's Dalian Wanda Group had bought American movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment Holdings for $2.6 billion in 2012 and took it public in December 2013. "Wang's son, Sicong, stirred up controversy about the children of China's billionaires in May when he posted photos on social media of a dog with two Apple watches on its front legs," Forbes reported.

Besides Wanda, the chief minister's delegation signed MoUs with China Fortune Land Development Company (CFLD) and ZTE Corporation among others. The MoU with CFLD also provides for development of large format industrial parks in Haryana. In tie-up with Haryana Industrial Development Corporation, CFLD will set up these parks in either Madina District in Rohtak or Bidhal Lath Gohana district Sonipat over an area of more than 300 acres.

ZTE Corporation will work for development of Smart Cities in Haryana, wherein it will work closely for defining an ICT solution for an identified location. Inspur group, a Shanghai-based cloud computing provider, plans to invest $100 million in an IDC, CDN, cable-box manufacture plant in Haryana.

DALIAN WANDA GROUP

China's largest real estate firm with 130 shopping malls, 80 luxury hotels, more than a hundred departmental stores and China's largest movie theatre chain



Internationally, the group owns the US organiser of Ironman Triathlons, US movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment, several Hollywood studios and 20% of Spanish soccer team Atletico Madri

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