news

Since completing its bankruptcy reorganization in 2021, the name of HNA Group has gradually faded, but it has returned to the public eye due to a disciplinary decision issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange recently issued a disciplinary decision to several former HNA Group executives, disclosing relevant violations by several senior executives including Chen Feng, and publicly condemning and punishing them.

Three years ago, HNA Group's bankruptcy reorganization was completed. HNA Group, which once had trillions of assets, has now been divided into four parts, and the repayment of trillions of debts left by the group is still in progress.

Hundreds of billions of funds illegally occupied and related guarantees

The decision mentioned that HNA GroupHNA Holdings, HNA Infrastructure, Haiyue Energy,Supply and Marketing FairThe controlling shareholder of nine companies including HNA Investment, Capital Airlines Helicopter, HNA Cold Chain, Yihang Technology, and Hainan Xinsheng.

During the above three years, HNA Group organized and instructed nine companies not to disclose non-operational related transactions as required. The highest balance of funds occupied by related parties in the above companies reached 55.012 billion yuan.

The above-mentioned related transactions occurred at the request and arrangement of HNA Group, have no commercial substance, and constitute misappropriation of funds.

In addition, HNA Group also organized and instructed six companies, including HNA Holdings, HNA Infrastructure, China Supply and Marketing Co., Ltd., HNA Investment, Capital Airlines, and E-Hangzhou Technology, to fail to disclose related guarantees as required. The highest balance of related guarantees of the above-mentioned companies reached 64.99 billion yuan over the three years.

Regarding the above-mentioned illegal acts, the penalty decision stated that Chen Feng, then the legal representative, chairman of the board, and chairman of HNA Group Co., Ltd., was the directly responsible supervisor, and ADAM TAN (Tan Xiangdong), then the vice chairman and CEO of HNA Group, knew and participated in the relevant illegal acts and was the main person in charge of the executive level. The two people's illegal circumstances were serious. Therefore, Chen Feng was determined to be unsuitable for serving as a director, supervisor, or senior manager of a securities issuer for life, and ADAM TAN (Tan Xiangdong) was publicly determined to be unsuitable for serving as a director, supervisor, or senior manager of a securities issuer for 10 years. The two were also publicly condemned.

Other HNA Group executives including Daniel Chen (Chen Xiaofeng), Zhang Ling, Bao Qifa, He Jiafu and Du Liang, who knew about and participated in the relevant illegal activities, were also publicly condemned.

At the end of last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission also issued an administrative penalty decision to HNA Group and relevant responsible personnel, judging the HNA Group's illegal and irregular information disclosure. Seven former senior executives of HNA Group, including Chen Feng, were fined a total of 18.75 million yuan, and HNA Group was also fined 7 million yuan.

Progress on repayment of trillions of debt

As early as September 2021, Chen Feng and Tan Xiangdong were taken coercive measures in accordance with the law for suspected crimes. In March 2022, Bao Qifa was also taken away by the police. According to the reporter from China Business News, the trial results of the three cases have not been announced yet, and HNA Group was divided into four after completing bankruptcy reorganization.

Among them, the aviation sector, mainly HNA Holdings (600221.SH), has been controlled by Liaoning Fangda Group, and the airport sector, mainly HNA Infrastructure (600515.SH), has been acquired by Hainan State-owned Assets Haifa Holdings. HNA Infrastructure has also been renamedHainan AirportThe assets of the remaining 321 companies of HNA Group were included in the trust plan and injected into Hainan HNA No. 2 Information Management Services Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "HNA Information Management").

HNA Information Management is also an important debt repayment entity for the trillion-yuan debt of HNA Group, which has gone bankrupt and reorganized. It owns many assets of the original HNA Group, includingBohai LeasingIt has nearly 100 listed companies and physical operating companies at home and abroad, including Bohai Trust, Bohai Life, Huaan Property & Casualty Insurance, Supply and Marketing Co-op, Jinhai Intelligent Manufacturing, HNA Hotels, and CWT, with a total asset management scale of over 200 billion yuan.

Creditors share the trust income according to the trust shares they hold. In other words, how much compensation creditors can receive from HNA Information Management in the future will mainly depend on the specific circumstances of HNA Information Management's disposal of assets, search for strategic investors and the operating income of its assets.

Gu Gang, then head of the Hainan Province HNA Group Joint Working Group and group party secretary, once revealed that the above assets included in the trust plan include more than 30 hotels, 5 A-share listed companies, 7 financial licensed institutions and other high-quality equity and assets. After the successful restructuring, the asset value of 321 companies will return to normal levels and gain development and appreciation after two years of development.

Now two years have passed, HNA Information Management has not disclosed the operating conditions of its assets, but has been looking for strategic investors for many of its assets, including ST Daji, HNA Futures, Xinsheng Payment,Northeast Electricwait.

At the beginning of this year, ST Daji, the commercial business entity of the former HNA Group, also had its final owner, and the actual controller was changed from HNA Information Management to the China National Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

Just a few days ago, HNA Information Management also issued several equity transfer announcements involving assets in Beijing, Shanghai, Haikou, Sanya, Baoting, Changchun and other cities.