Majority shareholder of the German bank: Wang Jian, co-founder of HNA, has died

Chinese HNA co-founder Wang Jian was fatally wounded in the south of France. The 57-year-old man had fallen on a business trip to Provence, the company said. He was seriously injured in the fall and "unfortunately died" on Tuesday

. According to local authorities, Wang visited Bonnieux and climbed a high wall to take a picture. He crashed. Rescuers were not able to revive him, said the French police.

"He was standing on the edge and wanted his family to take a picture of him," said a French lieutenant-colonel. Then Wang Jian fell several meters into the depths.

Key to HNA Expansion

The sudden death of Wang Jian comes at a time of uncertainty for the conglomerate, which has made billions of dollars in purchases in the last three years . HNA is one of the 500 largest companies in the world and counts, among others, 7.9% of Deutsche Bank's largest shareholder.

The Chinese bought companies and real estate for $ 30 billion (25.75 billion euros) worldwide. accumulated greater mountain debt. The Group is currently trying to counter the financial problems badociated with billions of real estate and stock transactions.

Wang Jian, co-founder of the company, was a key figure in the expansion. In addition to Chen Feng, also co-founder, he was head of the conglomerate and most recently chairman of the board of directors of HNA International. The ownership structure of the company structure is considered opaque, but Wang Jian would have owned 15%.

Beijing does not finance purchases from Chinese companies

"Together we mourn the loss of an exceptionally talented leader and model," said HNA in a statement. Wang Jian is from the aviation industry and founded with Chen Feng in the early 90s Hainan Airlines, the flagship of the group and now the fourth Chinese airline. HNA also bought 82.5% of Frankfurt – Hahn 's local deficit airport for 15 million euros last year.

The fact that HNA has fallen into a difficult situation is also linked to the new Beijing policy. For years, Chinese public banks have been willing to finance Chinese purchases of foreign origin and continue to inject billions of dollars. But it was suddenly over – also for the sake of capital outflows.

HNA reduces its shares in Deutscher Bank

The government now wants local businesses to focus on overseas high-tech acquisitions abroad, thus advancing industrial upgrading in the country. Companies such as HNA, which are primarily interested in real estate and financial investments, but have drastically extinguished the money. In addition to HNA, Wanda real estate group and insurer Anbang recently ran out of money.

HNA reduced its stake in Deutsche Bank from 9.9% to 7.9% in April, announcing its intention to sell, in whole or in part, more than $ 26 billion in its 26% stake in the Hilton hotel chain.