--FILE--View of a Wanda Plaza of Dalian Wanda Group in Chongqing, China, 12 August 2015. China's Wanda Group will invest 15 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in hospital developments around the country, the property and investment firm said in a statement on Wednesday, tapping into a reform drive to give private firms a larger role in healthcare. The deal will see Wanda invest in and build three hospitals in the major cities of Shanghai, Chengdu and Qingdao, which will be managed by British-based healthcare operator International Hospital Group (IHG), Wanda said. The investment plays into China's wider healthcare reform drive, with Beijing hoping to attract more private money into the sector to reduce the burden on creaking public hospitals and trim a healthcare bill set to hit $1.3 trillion by 2020. Wanda's billionaire chairman Wang Jianlin said the developments would help satisfy "the growing healthcare needs of the country's affluent population, " as well as help the sector more widely by bringing overseas experience into the market.
