State airlines shy away from HNA restructuring, which is postponed for three months

Embattled Chinese conglomerate HNA Group will delay the submission of a proposal for the restructuring of its heavily indebted airlines-to-property business, as China’s state-owned carriers have steered clear of bailing out the country’s biggest private-sector carrier, according to sources familiar with the matter. The restructuring of Hainan-based HNA will most probably involve consortiums comprising multiple companies. The government working group that seized control of HNA in late February 2020 will make sure Hainan Airlines remains a private company and will ring-fence it from the country’s three biggest state-owned carriers, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity. HNA Group’s debt amounts to at least US$187b. HNA Group and Hainan Airlines did not respond to requests for comment. HNA, which used to own a global assets portfolio that ranged from the largest stake in Deutsche Bank to 25% of Hilton Hotels, entered bankruptcy restructuring in January, a year after its previous management was ousted in a state takeover. As a state ward, the company began looking for strategic investors publicly in March and has been shedding its international assets.<br/>