HNA buys former Hong Kong airport site for $1.1bn

Bloomberg reports a unit of HNA Group Co. outbid Hong Kong developers including Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. with an HK$8.84 billion ($1.1 billion) offer for government land in the former Kai Tak airport area, the highest price tag in three-and-a-half years. The deal is the latest overseas foray for HNA, which has been on a $34 billion dealmaking spree over the past year. The company, led by aviation tycoon Chen Feng, operates airlines, hotels and tourism businesses and is pursuing an aggressive expansion to capitalize on the surge in Chinese outbound traffic which will reach 200 million annually by 2020. Last month Blackstone said it was selling about one-quarter of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to HNA for about $6.5 billion.