HNA's fire sale gets into full swing from Hong Kong to London

(Feb 13): HNA Group Co., the once-voracious hunter of global trophy assets, is seeking to sell more than US$6 billion ($7.9 billion) in properties worldwide as pressure intensifies for the Chinese conglomerate to speed up disposals so it can repay its debts.

The group on Tuesday said it agreed to sell two plots of land in Hong Kong it bought less than a year ago for HK$16 billion ($2.7 billion) to the city’s second-richest man. HNA is also said to have been in talks to sell a pair of office buildings in London’s Canary Wharf district it bought for more than US$500 million and offering a raft of properties in the US valued at about US$4 billion.

After spending tens of billions of dollars investing in big stakes in Deutsche Bank AG to skyscrapers in New York, the conglomerate that once symbolised China’s insatiable appetite for global assets is reversing course after the government soured on overseas acquisitions and debts piled up beyond the company’s means. The group is said to have told creditors it could have a liquidity shortfall of at least 15 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) this quarter and that it’s targeting about 100 billion yuan in asset sales during the first half.

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