HNA's Hong Kong unit sells land parcel to Wheelock for about $500 mln

Tysan Holdings

01/02/2019 13:53

HONG KONG, Feb 1 (Reuters) - China's HNA Group  HNAIRC.UL 
sold its last land parcel in Hong Kong to local developer
Wheelock and Co's  0020.HK  property business for HK$3.91
billion ($498.3 million), continuing its  global asset disposals
to ease its liquidity crunch.       
    Hong Kong International Construction Investment Management
Group  0687.HK , a unit of aviation-to-financial services
conglomerate HNA, sold to Wheelock Properties land in the Kai
Tak area that was bought about two years ago.
    "The transaction provides an opportunity for the group to
realise its investment and redeploy its resources in a more
prudent matter," Hong Kong International said in a filing to the
Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.
    Wheelock bought a residential site from the HNA unit last
March for HK$6.36 billion, expanding its portfolio near a
stretch of land northeast of the Victoria harbour, which used to
be the old Kai Tak Airport's runway.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1QR1JF
    Four other land parcels were sold to Henderson Land
Development  0012.HK  for HK$16 billion last February.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Q306U
    Faced with soaring debts and China's crackdown on aggressive
dealmaking firms, HNA has been pushing ahead with a series of
asset sales that have included real estate and stakes in hotel
groups.
    Trading in Hong Kong International's shares was halted on
Friday and will resume on Monday. Wheelock's shares closed 0.8
percent higher on Friday.
($1 = 7.8470 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Clare Jim and Meg Shen
Editing by Lee Chyen Yee and David Goodman)
 ((clare.jim@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2912 6653; Reuters
Messaging: clare.jim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))