China’s HNA says $11bn of asset disposals ‘not a fire sale’
CHINESE conglomerate HNA Group has put property assets worth at least $11bn (€9.6bn), up for sale – accelerating a push to cut its large debt and restructure.
Two sets of documents reviewed by Reuters listed more than 80 assets that HNA has either put up for sale or intends to sell, including hotels, commercial and residential buildings. They are mostly within China, with the bulk of them located in Hainan Island, where HNA is based,
Under pressure from Beijing, the aviation-to-hotels conglomerate has in 2018 sold real estate, and stakes in overseas companies after a $50bn acquisition spree in recent years.
It has also disposed of a sizeable minority stake in Irish-founded aircraft lessor Avolon, run by Domhnal Slattery.
Since January, HNA has sold or agreed to sell over $20bn worth of assets, including real estate in Sydney, New York and Hong Kong, according to Reuters calculations and media reports.
“We are strategically exiting some areas but it’s not a fire sale,” said a company source familiar with the group’s plans.
An HNA spokeswoman declined to comment. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
In one set of the documents, HNA listed 24 assets in China and 11 overseas, including HNA International Plaza, a commercial-to-residential landmark complex in Haikou, and 850 Third Avenue in New York, which came under scrutiny by the US government because of its proximity to the Trump Tower, according to a media report.
It estimated the total value of 26 assets listed in this set of documents as $10.5bn but didn’t give the estimated valuations of the remaining assets. In a separate set of documents sent to another investor, HNA listed 57 domestic property assets as “planned for sale”, 10 of which also appear in the first set of documents.