HNA Puts Billions More on the Block in New Sales Push

(Bloomberg) -- HNA Group Co. is putting more of its aviation and property assets on the block, marketing more than $40 billion of domestic and international holdings as the Chinese conglomerate races to reduce its debt load.

Updated lists sent to potential buyers and seen by Bloomberg News included more than 90 assets in China, the U.S. and U.K. Among the additions: The airline leasing business purchased from CIT Group Inc. for more than $10 billion, and a 459-hectare artificial island project in Hainan, southern China, valued by HNA at 21.2 billion yuan ($3.1 billion).

HNA, which started in 1989 as an airline based in Hainan island, expanded rapidly through acquisitions around the world before the government started reining deals in last year amid concern that debt levels were unsustainable. Under rising pressure to shed holdings, the group has increasingly turned to marketing aviation-related assets, part of its core business, and has even resorted to using air tickets in lieu of cash to repay obligations.

The conglomerate didn't immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment.

Read a primer on how HNA turned from a big buyer to a big seller here.

HNA is seeking buyers for all its overseas aviation and logistic holdings -- purchased with more than $33 billion since 2010 -- a person familiar with the group's sales pitch said. The firm's management hasn't decided if it will attempt to sell those assets as a single package, or negotiate with bidders separately on each one, the person said, asking not to be named because the information is private.

Top aviation and logistics assets for sale:

Top properties for sale:

As one of the world's biggest asset sales sprees widens, estimates of the total vary widely, partly depending on which already agreed transactions are included as done deals and which assets overlap.

While HNA Group agreed to pay $10 billion for the CIT leasing business, the transaction was undertaken with HNA's Avolon Holdings and another unit, which could affect the value of either asset if sold separately. Both companies are included on HNA's list of assets for sale.

Though one of the lists described CIT's aircraft leasing business as separate from Avolon, Sam Moore, a spokesperson for Avolon, said that it's now fully integrated into the company. Avolon is 70 percent owned by Bohai Leasing Co., whose majority shareholder is HNA, according to Moore.

The company has already agreed to sell more than $22 billion of assets this year, according to a Bloomberg tally, including stakes in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. Chairman Chen Feng told China's Caijing media earlier this month the company has sold some 300 billion yuan ($43 billion) of assets in 2018.

--With assistance from Jinshan Hong.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Haze Fan in Beijing at hfan40@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma O'Brien at eobrien6@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, Dave McCombs

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