Wanda ups financial support for epidemic-stressed merchants

BEIJING -- Chinese commercial property giant Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group Co Ltd has decided to ramp up support for its over 60,000 merchant partners to tide over the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Merchants in the company's expansive and popular retail complex network Wanda Plazas can apply for delayed payments of rent and property management fees for March and April, the company said in a circular.

The new supportive policy came after the company, a branch of Wanda Group, decided earlier in January to waive all rent and property management fees of Wanda Plaza merchants from Jan 25 to Feb 29, 2020.

Meanwhile, Wanda will provide at least 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) of financing support with WeBank, an online bank backed by tech giant Tencent, for micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Wanda Plazas.

Almost all of the company's 300-plus Wanda Plazas across the country have reopened for business except for those in the hardest-hit Hubei Province, the circular said.

China's offline retail sector is among the hardest-hit by the epidemic as consumers stay away from crowded places. The government has called for combined efforts to help small retailers get over the short-term pains.