HNA Group Co. agreed to dispose of a plot of land in Hong Kong to local property developer Wheelock & Co. for HK$6.36 billion ($811 million) as the Chinese conglomerate’s selling spree accelerates to repay debts.

A binding offer for the site, which spans 7,318 square meters around the former Kai Tak airport, was made on March 8, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. The bid is about 15 percent higher than what HNA paid for the site last year, according to government records.

The announcement comes weeks after HNA sold two pieces of nearby land to local billionaire Lee Shau Kee’s Henderson Land Development Co. for about $2 billion. The move builds on the once-acquisitive Chinese conglomerate’s recent focus toward asset disposals after the company borrowed beyond its means to expand.

The disposal may help ease the financial strain HNA has been under after spending tens of billions of dollars on debt-fueled acquisitions to snap up assets including large stakes in Deutsche Bank AG and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. The group has told creditors it could have a liquidity shortfall of at least 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in the first quarter and that HNA is targeting about 100 billion yuan in asset sales during the first half, people familiar with the situation have said.

HNA still has land left in Kai Tak after it bought four plots in the area for a total HK$27.2 billion between November 2016 and March last year, outbidding local developers for sites that were among the most hotly contested during that period.

Separately, HNA has held preliminary talks with investors including Brookfield Asset Management Inc. about selling a pair of office buildings in London’s Canary Wharf district, according to people with knowledge of the matter. In the U.S., the Chinese conglomerate is selling properties valued at about $4 billion -- including the 245 Park Ave. skyscraper it bought less than a year ago for one of the highest prices ever paid for a building in New York -- according to a marketing document seen by Bloomberg. In late January, HNA agreed to sell a Sydney office building to Blackstone for A$205 million ($159 million).

Source:
courtesy of BLOOMBERG

by Daniela Wei

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