China Huarong to refocus on bad loans amid probes into chairman, investment

XinKong International Capital Holdings

08/06/2018 04:37

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, June 8 (Reuters) - China Huarong Asset
Management Co Ltd  2799.HK  will focus on its core bad debt
business, the company said, amid investigations by the official
anti-corruption watchdog of its chairman, Lai Xiaomin, and a
company it had invested in.
    Huarong is one of China's largest state-owned bad debt
managers. In April, the anti-corruption agency said it was
looking into suspected "serious discipline violations" by its
chairman, and the company had also taken a stake into a unit of
an energy firm whose chairman is also being probed for suspected
economic crimes.
    "Serious discipline violations" is a government euphemism
for graft.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1RU4Y7
    In a statement issued on Thursday, Huarong said it was
returning to its main business of non-performing loans and would
only focus on that area.
    "We must adhere to compliance management and effectively
prevent and resolve various risks," the statement said, adding
that improving compliance across the board was also a priority.
    Huarong had built up a 36 percent stake in a key unit of
embattled private energy company CEFC China Energy. The unit,
CEFC Hainan International, is acquiring a $9.1 billion stake in
Russia's oil major Rosneft  ROSN.MM .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1R166Q


 (Reporting by Shu Zhang in Beijing and Engen Tham in Shanghai
Editing by Miral Fahmy)
 ((shu.zhang@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1271; Reuters
Messaging: shu.zhang.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))