SUNAC China, the country’s No. 4 developer, Thursday said its investment in Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. Beijing was a failure and would book a US$2.6 billion charge.

    Sunac chairman Sun Hongbin had once been widely viewed as a white knight for the crumbling LeEco, of which Leshi has been the main listed vehicle.

    Sunac executives, seeking to reassure investors, said the developer would not have to worry about a negative impact from Leshi in the future.

    Debt-laden and cash-strapped Leshi received a US$2.2 billion investment from Sunac in January 2017. Leshi’s parent LeEco was once China’s Netflix-to-Tesla contender, but ran into a cash crunch in late 2016 after expanding too fast.

    Sunac also said core profit for 2017 more than tripled to a record 11.12 billion yuan (US$1.77 billion), helped by a big jump in revenue.

    The gearing ratio of the acquisitive developer fell to 66.9 percent, from 72.2 percent as of June 30. It vowed in August to slash the ratio to 70 percent by 2019 by slowing its rate of land purchases.

    The Tianjin-based firm said it expects tourism projects bought from Dalian Wanda Group in July for US$6.5 billion will drive earnings in the next three to five years and that it aims to boost contract sales by 24 percent this year to 450 billion yuan.

    Mainland property stocks were among the best performers in Hong Kong in 2017, propelled by robust sales, with  Sunac jumping 460 percent.  (SD-Agencies)