HNA Group co-chairman Chen Feng in 2015. Credit: World Travel & Tourism Council, Creative Commons
One of China’s biggest corporate failures is at hand.
The HNA Group, the massive airlines-to-hotels conglomerate that between 2015 and 2017 went on a global shopping spree, spending tens of billions of dollars to acquire stakes in the Hilton Hotels, Deutsche Bank and other overseas properties, is heading towards bankruptcy reorganization.
The company, whose assets had already been seized by the state, said Friday that it would cooperate with a court in Hainan Province, where it is headquartered, after creditors asked the authorities to approve a bankruptcy restructuring plan aimed at paying down the company’s massive debts.
The move set the stage for the dissolution of one of China’s first global companies, a sprawling conglomerate that not long ago boasted $150 billion in assets, 400,000 employees and 20 publicly traded companies. It paid $6 billion to acquire a California electronics distributor called Ingram Micro. In the summer of 2017, HNA even held an e
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Brands have long relied on social auditing companies to monitor their supply chains in China. But between the industry’s own flaws and a changing political environment in China, many say these reports aren't reliable. With the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act now going into effect, this lack of trust in the industry leaves many global companies — and those hoping to hold them accountable — in a tricky spot.
A key figure in the Trump administration, the former reporter and Marine talks about the reality of the Chinese Communist Party's ambitions, the value of concrete actions vs. rhetoric, how Xi was flummoxed by Trump,...
