HNA Group's Bankruptcy Woes

Almost US$10 billion was embezzled by HNA shareholders

Remember HNA? On the conglomerate's website it says: "Sharing dreams, bring more possibilities to the world".

How about bringing more headaches to creditors and the Chinese government for having such a big company fail spectacularly on the world stage.

Hainan Airlines started in 1993

HNA Group, which owns Hainan Airways, in a very short period of time acquired companies around the world, including Hong Kong Airlines, an office tower in Manhattan, and Red Lion Hotels, and is now bankrupt.

In addition, three units of HNA says in disclosures to stock exchanges that nearly US$10 billion had been embezzled by shareholders. But the identities of these people/companies were not named. They may be revealed later.

The three units are Shanghai-listed Hainan Airlines Holding, HNA Infrastructure Investment Group, and Shenzhen-listed CCOOP Group.

A government-led team completed due diligence earlier this month and now it can move forward into bankruptcy restructuring, that will affect up to 500 companies under HNA. Caixin has previously reported HNA had 2,300 companies.

HNA bought this NYC office tower

Hainan Airlines was founded by Chen Fang and Wang Jian in 1993, and Chen had previously worked in the civil aviation authority. Wang died in 2018 after falling off a wall on a cliff during a holiday in France.

In its early days, the airline stood out from other state-owned Chinese airlines with its punctuality, in-flight service and new fleet, and this quickly won it legions of loyal travelers and expanded. Even US financier George Soros invested in the airline, its largest foreign shareholder that helped the company expand into logistics, tourism and real estate starting in 2006.

By 2017 HNA had ballooned into a global conglomerate with 290,000 employees, and 1 trillion yuan in assets. It went on a US$48 billion spending spree, buying up stakes in Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, and 400,000 sq ft at the former Kai Tak Airport site to develop into a residential apartment complex.

Chen wanted HNA to be on the Fortune 100's list of the world's largest companies by assets.

But that all came to an abrupt end in June 2017 when China's financial regulators cracked down on it and other companies that went on their respective spending sprees, like Anbang Group, Dalian Wanda Group and Fosun Group.

Ex-Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui in prison

For example Anbang tried to take over Starwood Hotels for US$13 billion and is now put under state control, and its former chairman Wu Xiaohui in jail for 18 years for fraud and embezzlement charges.

As of June 2019 HNA had 706.7 billion yuan in debt and has not updated its status since.

Gu Gang, head of the group to restructure HNA, admitted that the expansion at break-neck speed was driven by "hasty decisions", leaving HNA with "one huge bottomless pit after another", that forced it to sell its assets. 

"All we suffered and all of our efforts served only one purpose -- a successful restructuring," Gu said. "It is only through bankruptcy and restructuring that we can be reborn."

Meanwhile Chen has been kicked out of the company's Communist Party committee, a sign that he has nothing to do with the company's restructuring. Does this mean he will face further charges?

What will happen to HNA founder Chen Fang?

Hopefully this will be the end of China's "going out" phase, reckless spending, loose credit and risky leveraging of assets for acquisitions.

So much for dreaming to take over the world...

Wanda Gets on Red Tourism Bandwagon

"Red" tourists take part in re-enacting the Long March in Yan'an

Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin is back in the limelight again -- this time to show off his patriotism.

His company Wanda Group announced this week it will build a theme park in Yan'an, the birthplace of the Communist Party to cash in on "red tourism".

The description of the project already sounds like an eye-roller -- located in the loess plateau of Shaanxi province near Gansu and Shanxi, the theme park will feature shopping malls, indoor parks, theatres and hotels built in the style of the 1930s, when Yan'an was the headquarters of the Communist Party.

Wang Jianlin's Wanda will promote "red tourism" in Yan'an

Construction on the 1.26 square kilometre project will begin in the first quarter of next year and expected to be completed in 2021, in time for the party's centenary celebrations, Wanda said.

"Wanda is committed to the Yan'an spirit and will turn the Yan'an Wanda City into a new brand for red tourism," Wang said in a statement.

For the past year the developer, China's wealthiest man in 2017, according to Forbes, was laying low, after he dispersed his US$9.4 billion in hotels and tourism assets to rivals Sunac China and Guangzhou R&F Properties to relieve Wanda from its heavy debts.

In October, Wanda disposed of its last remaining stake in its tourism projects for 6.28 billion yuan.

The company had attracted the scrutiny of China's banking and securities regulators for over leveraging acquisitions it made overseas, such as for yacht builder Sunseeker, AMC chain of cameras, real estate around the world, and even Iron Man races.

Mao Zedong's modest cave in Yan'an during the Long March

But now it seems Wanda and Wang are back in the government's good books with another 20 billion yuan project in Lanzhou, the start of the ancient Silk Road, and this Yan'an theme park, that would take advantage of the 484 million tourists who pay homage to 436 historical sites around China that hold special significance to the Communist Party.

Yan'an is revered in particular, as it was here towards the end of the Long March that became the focal point of Chinese Communism. In 1935 Mao Zedong took the Red Army from Jiangxi province on an over 9,000-kilometre trek to Yan'an in 370 days.

We can't wait to see what Wanda does with its "red" theme park...










Wanda came under the scrutiny of China’s banking and securities regulators for the outsize leveraged acquisitions it undertook overseas, for such assets as the Sunseeker yacht builder, the AMC chain of cameras, real estate around the world and even the Iron Man races.

Review: Better Angels

The home in Muscatine, Iowa that Xi Jinping stayed in back in 1985

This evening I got to watch a preview of a documentary called Better Angels by two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Malcolm Clarke.

It's a strange title for a film about the relationship between the United States and China, but it's taken from a quote that Henry Kissinger says at the beginning, how better angels will make our future better.

So aside from the big names like Kissinger, former secretaries of state James Baker and Madeleine Albright, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and even former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, the documentary follows different, ordinary people on how the other country has affected them.

A picture of Xi (far right) in front of that Muscatine home

One is a teacher from Texas who goes to China to teach English and American football and is grateful for the opportunity to not only make money to support his family, but also learn more about the culture; another is a blind man who travels around the world and when he's in the US he wants to go to Muscatine, Iowa to visit the house that Chinese President Xi Jinping stayed in in 1985. It turns out another Chinese man bought the home and turns it into a "Friendship House".

There are sympathetic portraits of Chinese who oversee factories in the US and Ethiopia, and how they hardly get to visit their families, and how some Americans employed in these Chinese factories are so thrilled to have a job following the financial crisis in 2009.

One neat scene is watching a Chinese man showing American kids how to use an abacus and how it stimulates their interest in math. After a few lessons they turn into human calculators.

A teacher appreciates his life in China with his Chinese wife

The stories don't necessarily weave together nicely, but they each show a nuanced side of the Chinese or Americans. However, there are some heavy weights like Wanda's Wang Jianlin, who's filmed singing and the audience in the ballroom is cheering him on... this was obviously before the company got into trouble with the central government...

Clarke was at our screening and afterwards he explained the film took over three years to make and they had to re-edit the film following Donald Trump's election win. The British director also said he got all the big name people he wanted mostly because he would drop names of other people in there and so they didn't want to miss out in being in the documentary.

He's currently showing it to small audiences here and there, and there are plans to show Better Angels at the Asia Society in Hong Kong (maybe because chairman Ronnie Chan gets his say in the film?).

British director Malcolm Clarke

Clarke's strategy is to have a wider release in the US before showing it in China, where he had to get layers of approval; but because the film is practically positive about China -- and Xi -- that it got the green light. And Clarke is keen on making more films about the country because he finds it so fascinating -- good and bad.

Better Angels isn't for everyone, but for those interested in learning a bit more about China, this gives a more intimate view of how it impacts people at a grassroots level.

Another Chinese Acquisition

Grouse Mountain is a short 45 minute drive away from Vancouver

When I was a teenager I learned how to ski on Grouse Mountain. I was cautious at first, but after learning the moves I became more confident skiing down The Cut, one of the main trails. On the other hand my brother had no fear and zoomed down the hill.

In recent years Grouse Mountain became popular in the summer thanks to the Grouse Grind, a 2.9 kilometre (2,830 steps) nicknamed "Mother Nature's stairmaster" all the way up to the top. If you could do it in under an hour you were really fit. Hardcore visitors were called "grinders" and liked to boast their times.

The Grouse Grind is popular with fitness addicts

In any event in the last day or so it has been announced that Grouse Mountain will be sold to China Minsheng Investment Group, the largest privately owned investment manager in China.

The property has been for sale since September last year and it is believed the deal is worth CAD$200 million that will be finalized in the next few days.

Apparently there are potential areas the new owners could develop, such as a hotel and spa, a bike park and conference facilities, but these are all subject to regulatory approval.

In the meantime all staff have been kept and operations will continue as usual.

Grouse is a popular and close by mountain for skiing

China Minsheng Investment Group was started in 2014 by Premier Li Keqiang and this purchase is apparently its first in Canada. Other Chinese companies with a foothold in the city include Anbang Insurance, China Poly Group Corporation, Greenland Group and Ping-An Insurance, Wanda Group and Fosun.

Despite the possible changes in the coming years, one thing's for sure -- the Grouse Grind will not be touched -- it's on government land.

Tweeting Sensitive Chinese Info

Some tweets revealed personal information of Chinese officials and tycoons

An interesting story has come out today, saying that a Twitter account has released the personal information of many Chinese Communist Party officials and tycoons.

With the handle "shenfenzheng", meaning "personal ID", the account exposed everything from the ID card numbers to residential addresses of prominent people in government, business, banking and technology.

They included people such as Alibaba chairman Jack Ma Yun to China's richest man Wang Jianlin of Wanda, and Tencent co-founder Ma Huateng, as well as Chinese officials, one of whom is the governor of a major province. At least two of the ID numbers were verified.

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma may have had his data exposed

The tweets were meant to demonstrate how easy it is to get access to this information through black-market channels and that such sensitive information was not properly safeguarded.

"It's easy to figure out anybody's information, whether you're a government official or a celebrity," shenfengzhen tweeted. "Getting the common people's data is like buying cabbage."

Ouch.

This is a good wake up call for China's public security officials to put more effort into internet security and develop better policies on how personal information is stored and treated.

Needless to say, after the information was released, the account was suspended yesterday afternoon and the tweets deleted.

China's richest man Wang Jianlin was also named in tweets

Whoever is behind shenfengzheng could also be in big trouble -- anyone leaking such information could be fined and spend up to three years in jail if convicted of the offense.

It will be interesting to find out who was behind this and how they managed to dredge up so much data.

"Are you surprised at all this information? I hope this encourages the nation's scrutiny, and shows how worthless individual data is in China," shenfengzhen tweeted.

Stay tuned.

Fact of the Day: China has more Billionaires than the US

Wang Jianlin of Wanda is China's wealthiest man at US$26 billion

The famous -- or infamous -- Hurun Global Rich List is out and there were 99 new billionaires in the world to a record high of 2,188 last year, the majority of which come from China.

Ninety of them came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and the mainland, and so China's number of billionaires is 568, and now it can boast having more than the US, which now has 535. Chinese billionaires had a combined next worth of US$1.4 trillion.

Li Ka-shing trails behind Wang with US$25 billion

Also the uber rich got even wealthier this past year with an increase of 9 percent at US$7.3 trillion.

Beijing is now called the billionaire capital of the world, with 100 of them based in the Chinese city.

Nine Chinese billionaires were in the top 100 in the Hurun Global Rich List last year.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of property and entertainment conglomerate Wanda was the richest in China, 21st in the world with a net worth of US$26 billion.

He beat Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing whose wealth shrank by 22 percent to US$25 billion, and 23rd in the world.

Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee is in 27th place, while Alibaba's Jack Ma Yun dropped two places to 36th, and his network shrank by 14 percent to US$21 billion.

Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land is the third richest in China

The Hurun list is infamous mostly because after the Chinese tycoons are listed there, some have "disappeared" then investigated and convicted of corruption. Huang Guangyu, formerly chairman of Gome, was convicted of stock market manipulation and is now serving a 14-year jail sentence.

So while these people amass gobs of wealth, they can face a severe reversal of fortune...

Worry about the Next Generation

Who's going to take over Dalian Wanda if Wang Jianlin's son won't?

Economists must find it interesting to watch how businesses develop in China, as private companies only began running again three decades ago.

As we have seen, some family-owned businesses have flourished spectacularly, the best example of which is Dalian Wanda run by Wang Jianlin, who recently purchased World Triathlon Corporation, which runs Ironman Triathlon Races for $650 million.

However, Wang's son, Sicong, has already said he does not want to take over the cinema and property conglomerate.

Wang Sicong's dog has two Apple watches. Does yours?

Maybe he's too busy playing with his dog, whom he recently purchased two Apple watches for each front paw.

However Wang Sicong is not alone in refusing to join the family firm. A study has found that only one in five of the mainland's second generation is keen to take over, which may spell trouble in the next decade.

The majority of second generation rich or fuerdai (富二代) would like to start their own business, while the rest would rather take traditional career paths.

The research was conducted by Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, and led by its associate dean, Professor Jin Li. The school is also launching a program in conjunction with the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School, aimed at executives of family businesses in China.

"Chinese family businesses are at a historic turning point," says Eric Thun, an associate professor in Chinese business studies at Oxford. "At the same time as confronting the challenges in the domestic market that are common to all Chinese firms, many are making leadership transitions from the first to second generation."

The study covered two years, based on interviews with more than 500 family-owned Chinese firms. Only 20.5 percent of those surveyed expressed an interest in following in their parents' footsteps, while nearly 70 percent wanted to start their own business; the rest wanted a traditional job like a doctor or lawyer.

Wang Sicong has set up his own gaming company

This latest finding spells trouble for China's economy because family-run businesses play a major role, with more than 85 percent of the country's private companies are family-owned. By July last year 747 of these firms were listed on the mainland stock exchange.

It's also an interesting contrast to family-run businesses in Europe and North America that have gone through several generations; but if not many second generation kids in China don't want to take over the family business, what's going to happen?

As expected, the profiles of the fuerdai reveal more than half of them have studied abroad, two-thirds of which majored in business management -- knowledge that would serve them well in guiding the family firm forward.

However, the study found many appeared to lack self confidence in dealing with businessmen from their parents' generation as well as senior staff within their family firm's management.

Another important issue is the kids feel too much pressure in living up to their parents' legacies, which could threaten business stability, the report said. This is the opposite thinking of the parents, who are focused on the best interests of the family and have high expectations for their child -- only child in most cases.

About two in every five entrepreneurs hoped their children would take over the business, while 55 percent said they would allow professionals to manage the company, but still have the family has main shareholders.

It sounds like there is no real nurturing of children to grow into the family business. In many multi-generational family businesses, young children are always encouraged to help out on the weekends or summer holidays, not just to have an extra pair of hands, but to see how they like the work.

And with many studying business management, but instead wanting to do something else may indicate the parents were trying to plan their children's career path without the kid having much say in what they wanted to study in university.

But the intimidation the fuerdai feel in taking over the business is palpable -- Chinese parents always seem to have very high expectations, sometimes to the point of being unrealistic. Wang Sicong has had a habit of shooting his mouth off, making outrageous comments that must leave his father red in the face with embarrassment.

So in this case maybe it's a good thing Sicong has decided not to take the reins of the family business...

Ironman's New Owner

Ironman competitors diving into the water at the start of the race

It's been an interesting week for mainland property and entertainment tycoon Wang Jianlin. On Monday, he lost an estimated $3.6 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index from the rocky ride in the stock market.

But later in the week he successfully acquired World Triathlon Corporation, the American owner of Ironman races.

On Thursday Dalian Wanda Group agreed to buy WTC for $650 million, following its acquisitions of Swiss marketing company Infront and Spanish football club Atletico Madrid in the past year.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda that owns WTC

"At present, almost all the top sports events in the world are controlled by European and American companies. Acquisitions are the only way for most companies to scale up efficiently," said Wang, chairman of Dalian Wanda. "By acquiring World Triathlon Corporation, we will be able to have a world-class sports brand of our own."

WTC is the world's largest operator of ironman-distance triathlon events, and the owner of the Ironman brand. It holds more than 230 races that attract over 230,000 competitors every year.

However, not many Chinese participate in Ironman, where a full ironman-distance race involves a 3.36km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run.

Many do Ironman competitions for their personal best times

"Our next task is to introduce Ironman to more Chinese people," said Wang, 61. "Chinese people's lifestyle is changing, as they are getting rich. Running, for example, as become very popular among Chinese people in recent years. This has provided a good foundation for the development of sports like triathlon in the country."

However, analysts are scratching their heads over this latest acquisition. Yan Qiang, a Beijing-based sports industry observer didn't see how WTC fit in with the other sports brands, but conceded the Ironman brand would boost Wanda's globa profile.

"The dela came as quite a surprise," Yan said. "We could see a rather clear strategy when Wanda purchased Atletico Madrid and Infront. Yet the sport of triathlon seems to be a totally different area.

It will be interesting if more Chinese are interested in Ironman

"Unlike sports like football, triathlon is very new to China. It may take years for Wanda to warm up the market and attract fans in the country."

Ironman is more of a event people do on their own to improve their own fitness levels, not a team sport that has an audience cheering them on, unless they are friends and family. And because the race takes place over several hours, people don't necessarily have the patience to watch the entire thing.

But -- as a way to get Chinese into this ultimate level of sport is definitely intriguing.

The best publicity stunt would be for Wang to get his 27-year-old son Wang Sicong to train for an Ironman. When Apple released its watches, he bought two for his dog Wang Keke. Does he know his canine can't tell the time?

How about getting Wang Sicong training for Ironman?

He's already been ridiculed for being a spoiled rich kid and making silly off-the-cuff remarks. So a great way to rehabilitate his image would be to train for this grueling race to learn discipline, dedication, hard work and sheer physical strength. Surely his dad would approve?

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Wang Sicong considers himself "tall, rich and handsome"... is he?

On Valentine's Day, the son of China's second-richest man told the media that his top criteria for finding a girlfriend was that she had to be "buxom".

The 26-year-old Wang Sicong was educated overseas from grade one and when he came back to China, his father, Wang Jianlin appointed him director of Dalian Wanda Group, a property and entertainment empire, without having any particular job description or responsibilities. The younger Wang is also chairman of a private investment firm called Prometheus Capital and runs a gaming company.

But he is best known for making outrageous comments on social media, usually verbal jousts at other fuerdai or second-generation wealthy elite. In 2013 he got into an argument with Wang Xiaofei, the son of celebrity chef Zhang Lan, accusing Wang of "impersonating a fuerdai" and being a "fake hipster" because his mother had retained her seat on the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference despite renouncing her Chinese citizenship.

Ouch.

Father Wang Jianlin went on TV to defend his son's antics

Wang Sicong also considers himself a "gaofushuai", or literally "tall, rich and handsome"; he also likes to point out he is different from "diaosi", a self-mocking term referring to young men of humble backgrounds and low incomes.

Basically he's a spoiled brat to the nth degree.

In the days following his Valentine's Day remarks, Xinhua skewered the younger Wang, saying he was "breaching the bottom line of morals". It also said he was spreading "undesirable obsessions with money, sex and violence".

After Xinhua slammed Wang, he claimed what he said about women was a joke and couldn't believe that people took it seriously.

But his father has taken the criticism to heart and last night went on state television to publicly defend his son.

Wang Jianlin said his son had spent many years studying overseas and had gotten into the habit of speaking whatever was on his mind.

"He is smart. He went overseas to study at grade one and he has a Western-style of thinking. Maybe after spending five or eight years in China, he will truly become Chinese."

Will the younger Wang ever truly become Chinese after having studied abroad since he was six years old? This is naive thinking on the father's part. To believe that his son can have a Western education but without the other cultural aspects that go with living in the West is wishful thinking.

And for the father to denounce the West for casting is son astray is outrageous -- if his son was brought up with good family values and manners, this entire incident would not have erupted.

According to Wang Jianlin's friends, his biggest regret in life is not having more children. "My wife didn't want to have more when we were young, and now it's too late," he apparently once said...