Chinese group HNA, parent company of Africa World Airlines (AWA), declares bankruptcy
HNA group, which owes around 15 airlines including Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and Ghana's Africa World Airlines (AWA), has been declared bankrupt and placed in receivership.
Having become one of the largest buyers of global assets in China, the conglomerate created in 1993 by Chen Feng (he worked for the civil aviation authority before going into business) has experienced meteoric rise that has is gradually discounted from the end of 2017. Fueled by the frenzy of indebtedness and the good results of its airline activity (its main division), the HNA group has extended its arms into other sectors, notably finance, hotel and real estate industry where he held significant stakes. In 2017, the global group of 290,000 employees had at least 1 trillion yuan ($ 154.8 billion) in assets.
Its recurring difficulties in repaying bonds and creditors had forced the Chinese financial regulator to put the group under surveillance for 3 years.
In February 2020, a task force made up of government officials and Hainan provincial authorities was formed to restructure the group's finances. An operation that ultimately turned out to be more complicated, hence its bankruptcy.
