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PARIS (BLOOMBERG) – HNA Group Co, the once acquisitive Chinese conglomerate that has sold billions of dollars in assets this year due to rising borrowing costs, said that co-president Wang Jian died after an accident in Provence. He was 57 years old.
Wang, who was on a business trip, had a fall from which he could not recover, HNA said in a statement posted on his website. Wang died Tuesday morning after falling from a 15 meter high cliff while he was taking his picture to Bonnieux, according to a police officer from Avignon. Death is not considered suspicious, the officer said.
Wang's sudden death comes at a time when the group, one of the most indebted companies in China, is showing signs of insecurity. Chinese senior officials have agreed to help HNA, people close to the case last month, to provide much needed help to a company that could not generate enough profits last year to pay for its costs. # 39; interests.
The company that once symbolized China's insatiable appetite for global assets reversed its course, selling more than $ 14 billion worth of buildings and shares, including its multi-billion dollar stake. dollars in Hilton Worldwide Holdings. Said Corrine Png, CEO of Crucial Perspective, a Singapore-based research company specializing in transportation. In our opinion, "we will also overhaul the restructuring plans of HNA Group and related companies."
One of HNA's US dollar bonds maturing in 2018 has lost 1.5 cents to the dollar, the largest decline since December 12, according to Bloomberg prices. A bond due in 2019 has also fallen.
"The death of Wang Jian will certainly bring short-term shocks to the development of HNA's business," said Liu Feng, director of the Hainan Normal University Port Research Center. "But the long-term impact on the group will be limited."
Wang, the second leader of the group, held about 15% of the Chinese conglomerate, making it one of the largest shareholders of the group, according to the latest update of HNA's ownership structure. The other co-chairman of HNA, Chen Feng, and the senior official of the group, also holds a 15% stake
Wang graduated with an undergraduate degree in aviation management from the & [[[19651965196519651965196519651965UniversityofCivilAviationofChinain1983andaMastersinBusinessAdministrationfromtheHollandMaastrichtSchoolofManagementin1995accordingtoHNA
In 1990, he helped establish Hainan Provincial Airlines Co. and was one of the founders of the group.
"We mourn the loss of an exceptionally talented leader and model, whose vision and values will continue to be a beacon for all those who have had the chance to know him, as well as for the many others he touched by his work and philanthropy, "said HNA in a statement
after spending more than $ 40 billion he became the largest shareholder of companies such as Deutsche Bank and Hilton. HNA's financial difficulties began to appear in the middle of last year, when its interim report showed that the conglomerate was paying the highest interest charges among non-financial corporations in Asia. The latest HNA annual report showed that the group had a debt of more than 90 billion US dollars.
Concern over HNA's financial situation increased in the months that followed as the government monitored the largest foreign asset purchasers. In November, HNA sold the most expensive short-term US dollar bond in China and, a month later, China Citic Bank Corp. said that one unit of the group had trouble repaying. In January, as news about HNA's liquidity problems reached its peak, six of its listed shares were suspended.
However, financial worries have declined in recent months following a wave of asset sales. A $ 6 billion US sale of Hilton Worldwide shares, helping many of HNA's bonds to rebound to a record high. In June, HNA sold a bond in China after a rare five-month drought, signaling a crucial source of funding for the conglomerate that could open.
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