China’s Biggest Deal Maker Spent Billions. Now the Bill Comes Due.<br />That company, called HNA Group, in a few short years had racked up $50 billion in big purchases as<br />well as investments in global companies like Hilton Hotels, Deutsche Bank and Virgin Australia.<br />Chen Feng, HNA’s founder, said it signaled “our progress in bringing the world closer together through deepened U. S. market ties.”<br />But even as Mr. Chen accepted the award, the deals that helped the company achieve its global reach are coming back to haunt it.<br />It owns 26 percent of Hilton Hotels, the American hospitality chain; a 19.8 percent stake in Virgin Australia, the airline;<br />and a 20.9 percent stake in Dufry, the Swiss airport retailer.<br />Sales by HNA this year could total $16 billion, by some estimates — more than the nearly $14 billion in deals it struck last year.<br />HNA has even announced plans to sell some of the assets it acquired when it bought<br />a 25 percent stake in Hilton Worldwide Hotels, according to a regulatory filing.<br />One week after Mr. Chen, HNA’s founder, received an award at the New York gala from Mr. Schwarzman,<br />it sold a Sydney office building for $160 million to Blackstone, Mr. Schwarzman’s firm.<br />It is moving quickly to sell assets, saying this week that it would sell a stake in a trust that owns Hilton hotel properties worth $1.4 billion.<br />In response to questions, Deutsche Bank cited a statement from HNA<br />that the Chinese company would not sell more of its stake of the bank and declined to comment further.
