Hong Kong’s CK Asset Holdings to sell airline leasing businesses

CK Asset Holdings, the Hong Kong conglomerate founded by the city’s richest man, has agreed to sell its aircraft leasing businesses for a total of $4.28b, as it draws back from an industry hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. An investment company managed by Carlyle Group will purchase CK Asset’s aircraft assets, said the Hong Kong company Friday. The sale comes as the Omicron coronavirus variant has upended the aviation sector and clouded the outlook for the international travel industry just as parts of the world were beginning to open up. “Covid-19 has caused a paradigm shift in the aircraft leasing sector. The risk and return dynamics has become volatile and unpredictable, and the industry has undergone increased consolidation, mergers and acquisitions activities to mitigate such volatility,” CK Asset said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company, founded by Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, estimated that the sale would generate about $170m in profits. The group’s shares rose as much as 4.1% on Friday, their biggest gain in more than a month. CK Asset said the businesses had generated consistent returns but the proceeds from the sale would generate working capital allowing it to “enhance its strategic focus during the pandemic”. Local officials have also faced punishment over the outbreak, and domestic flights scheduled to depart the city on Friday were cancelled.<br/>