China’s Biggest Deal Maker Spent Billions. Now the Bill Comes Due.
That company, called HNA Group, in a few short years had racked up $50 billion in big purchases as
well as investments in global companies like Hilton Hotels, Deutsche Bank and Virgin Australia.
Chen Feng, HNA’s founder, said it signaled "our progress in bringing the world closer together through deepened U.S. market ties." But even as Mr. Chen accepted the award, the deals
that helped the company achieve its global reach are coming back to haunt it.
In a speech on Feb. 3, the company’s co-chairman, Wang Jian, cited attacks on the company from "reactionary forces from both China and overseas countering China’s rise," adding
that these forces were "a major conspiracy against the Communist Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core," according to a transcript of the speech sent to employees and seen by The New York Times.
One week after Mr. Chen, HNA’s founder, received an award at the New York gala from Mr. Schwarzman,
it sold a Sydney office building for $160 million to Blackstone, Mr. Schwarzman’s firm.
The company has also used the offshore bond market to raise billions of dollars from investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland
and elsewhere to help finance its global deal-making, according to its regulatory filings.
Sales by HNA this year could total $16 billion, by some estimates — more than the nearly $14 billion in deals it struck last year.
It owns 26 percent of Hilton Hotels, the American hospitality chain; a 19.8 percent stake in Virgin Australia, the airline;
and a 20.9 percent stake in Dufry, the Swiss airport retailer.