Chinese authorities will step in to help HNA Group’s liquidity concerns, sources told Bloomberg, as the company continues to shed its portfolio of highly-leveraged assets.
Despite heavy sell-offs in recent months, the Hainanese financial-to-aviation conglomerate still faces $93 billion worth of debt, after several years of aggressive, expansionary acquisition of valuable assets fuelled by credit.
The sources said that senior central bank officials met with HNA’s management and creditors to instruct them to support the company’s future bond issues. The officials also advised HNA to return to its core travel business and cease acquisitive behaviour, whilst working with banks to arrange the sale of the bonds.
The move marks the latest example of Beijing intervening in the case of a financially-troubled firm. In 2018, Anbang Insurance and CEFC China Energy have both been taken under state supervision due to the companies’ untenable liquidity situation, but according to the sources, the central bank considers the HNA case to be different.