Indonesian Billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s Pacific Eagle Buys Wanda’s Shanghai Luxury Hotel

Built at a cost of 3. 4 billion yuan ($479 million), the Wanda Reign on the Bund is considered to be . .

. [+] the most expensive hotel in China. Pacific Eagle Real Estate —controlled by Indonesian pulp and paper billionaire Sukanto Tanoto —has bought a Shanghai luxury hotel from cash-strapped Chinese developer Dalian Wanda Group as the Singapore-based family office expands its property investments.

Financial details weren’t disclosed, but real estate website Mingtiandi reported that Pacific Eagle could have paid as much as 1. 7 billion yuan ($240 million) for the Wanda Reign on the Bund , a 193-room luxury hotel in Shanghai’s historic Bund waterfront district, famous for its Western-style art deco buildings that were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Opened in June 2016, Wanda reportedly spent 3.

4 billion yuan to build the seven-star hotel, making it the most expensive hotel constructed in China. “As a long term investor, Pacific Eagle Real Estate is acquiring Shanghai Wanda Reign on the Bund hotel for capital appreciation,” a spokesman for Pacific Eagle said by email. Wanda Reign will be Pacific Eagle’s second hotel investment after the 304-room Mondrian Duxton Singapore, which opened last July.

Pacific Eagle—part of the Tanoto family’s Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group of companies—has been making inroads in the Singapore real estate market in recent years. In 2022, the company bought the Tanglin Shopping Centre in Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping belt for S$868 million ($645 million). Plans to redevelop the property have yet to be finalized.

Apart from its property investments in Singapore, Pacific Eagle, in partnership with China Resources Capital, is building the Pacific Eagle Center, a 21-story office tower in Beijing. It is also developing Prospect Park, a business park comprising 19 office blocks in the Chinese capital, and a residential development in the City of Rizhao in China’s southeastern Shandong province. Outside of Asia, Pacific Eagle owns commercial properties in London and Munich.

Besides his foray into real estate, Tanoto has been expanding into the tissue-making business. Last month, RGE offered to buy Vinda International Holdings, China’s largest tissue maker, for HK$26 billion ($3. 3 billion).

The deal comes on the heels of the acquisition of Brazil’s OL Papeis by RGE unit Bracel in January 2023. The group is investing $500 million to build tissue paper and pulp facilities in Brazil. Tanoto, 74, founded RGE more than 50 years ago, when he opened a humble spare parts supply shop known as Toko Motor in Medan, Indonesia.

The business has since evolved into a global company with over 60,000 employees and operations spanning pulp and paper, palm oil and energy. His Bracell is one of the largest producers of specialty cellulose, used in everything from baby wipes to ice cream. With a net worth of $3.

15 billion, Tanoto was ranked No. 20 on the list of Indonesia’s 50 Richest when the ranking was published in December. .