Investors in an online lending platform owned by HNA Group, including HNA’s own employees, have yet to be paid returns on their investments that were originally due on Nov. 28.
The Wall Street Journal reported that HNA’s Jan. 2 email to investors in the loan service JBH.com marked the second time the company had delayed payments on short-term investment products. The amount the Chinese conglomerate owes these investors is not known, but some of the investment products had investment minimums of approximately $7,700.
The news comes as HNA has struggled to deal with $100 billion in debt, about 25 percent of which comes due this year. As one available remedy, the company is reportedly mulling the sale of a number of its U.S. properties, including 850 Third Avenue and 1180 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, the latter of which it’s reportedly selling to Nightingale Properties for about $320 million.
HNA began rapidly expanding its foreign real estate holdings starting in 2015, acquiring a stake in the Hilton hotel chain and the trophy tower at 245 Park Avenue, for which it paid $2.21 billion last year. [WSJ] — Will Parker