China’s HNA considers IPO for its Swiss airline catering subsidiary Gategroup

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group is considering an initial public share offering for Gategroup Holding, the airline caterer it bought for US$1.5b in cash last year in a deal that is facing regulatory scrutiny from the Swiss authorities. Zurich-based Gategroup, the world’s second-largest air caterer, said Tuesday that it and its main shareholder, HNA Aviation Air Catering (Hong Kong), were evaluating the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich as a potential listing location, but the structure and timing of any IPO were yet to be determined. On the same day, S&P Global Ratings cut the conglomerate’s creditworthiness assessment to B from B+, due to concerns over its “significant debt maturities” and “meaningfully higher” fundraising costs. HNA, which started out as the small domestic airline Hainan Air, has spent tens of billions of US dollars on overseas acquisitions in the past few years, including stakes in Deutsche Bank and Hilton Worldwide Holdings, and has turned itself into a global conglomerate.<br/>