Dalian Wanda, China’s biggest commercial property group, will today seek to raise up to $3.9bn through an initial public offering in Hong Kong that would see it become the world’s second-largest pure-play commercial developer behind Simon Property Group of the US.

While Wang Jianlin, the group’s founder, is better-known for his interest in buying a Hollywood film studio, his $1.2bn purchase of a plot on Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard and his $2.6bn takeover two years ago of the AMC cinema chain, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties remains the bedrock of his rise to become China’s fourth-richest man.

If the IPO raises the full $3.9bn that the group is targeting, it will have a market capitalisation just shy of $25bn, trailing Simon Property’s $56bn but ahead of the $15bn of Australia’s Westfield. In China, the group is best known for its Wanda Plaza developments, present in all major cities and which include a mix of retail, office, hotel, residential and entertainment uses.