News
HNA sells holding in South Africa’s Comair
May 25th 2018
China’s indebted HNA Group has sold its shareholding in South African regional carrier, Comair. The Mainland conglomerate acquired a 6.2% stake in Comair for US$12.7 million in 2015. Read More » Neither HNA nor Comair have disclosed the transaction amount of the sale, announced to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on May 17.
Earlier this month, HNA Group sold approximately 20% of its shareholding in Azul Brazilian Airlines to another minority shareholder in the South American carrier, United Airlines.
Following the US$138 million plus transaction, HNA Group’s equity has been reduced from approximately 23% to 17.9% and United increased its investment in Azul from 3.7% to 8%. HNA said the sale would better balance its asset structure, improve asset liquidity and have a positive impact on its annual results. The conglomerate expected the transaction to generate a profit of US$42 million.
This year, HNA has raised more than US$10 billion from asset sales, including three land plots in Hong Kong and holdings in Deutsche Bank, Park Hotels & Resorts and Hawker Pacific. The conglomerate has approximately US$20 billion in maturing debt to service in 2018. HNA’s total debt has been estimated at close to US$100 billion.
