It’s like a real estate tag sale. The debt-burdened Chinese conglomerate HNA Group sold a massive Hong Kong development assemblage to local real estate firm Wheelock & Co. for $811 million, the latest in a string of sell-side deals.
That’s about 15 percent more than what HNA paid four the four plots totaling 79,000 square feet between November 2016 and March 2017, Bloomberg reported. CIMB Securities analyst Raymond Cheng said the company likely just about recovered its investment when factoring in closing costs and other expenses.
“They were lucky to be able to sell at these prices,” he told Bloomberg. “The market knows HNA has problems but there were probably so many bidders for this land or otherwise buyers would not have paid such a high price.”
HNA is struggling under $90 billion in debt, much of it coming due this year, and has started to sell assets to pay off loans. It recently sold its Manhattan office tower 1180 Sixth Avenue for $305 million to Northwood Investors and put 245 Park Avenue, which it bought for $2.21 billion in May, up for sale.
The Real Deal broke down HNA’s fall from grace in its March issue. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier