A sprawling Chinese company that borrowed heavily to build a global investment portfolio is now looking to dump its stake in dozens of Hilton hotels.
HNA Group said in a filing Thursday that it plans to sell “some or all” of its 25% stake in Park Hotels & Resorts, which owns more than 50 Hilton properties across the US, Europe and South America.
Park Hotels was spun off from Hilton Worldwide Holdings in January 2017. HNA’s stake is currently worth around $1.4 billion.
The Chinese firm started as a regional airline more than 20 years ago but in recent years went on an overseas spending binge, racking up an estimated $100 billion in debt in the process.
Now it’s selling assets to ease its financial pressures and as Chinese authorities crack down on heavy overseas spending by big companies.
HNA’s empire currently includes a 9% stake in Deutsche Bank and the Radisson hotel chain.
It also reached an agreement to buy Skybridge Capital, the New York investment firm founded by former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci. That deal is being investigated by the US Committee on Foreign Investment.
HNA is one of several companies from China that are scaling back their global ambitions under pressure from the country’s government.
Dalian Wanda — a real estate giant that owns real estate projects in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Istanbul as well as the the Hollywood studio behind “Jurassic World” and “The Hangover” trilogy — has been dumping its international properties.
And Anbang, an insurance firm whose portfolio includes the iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel, was recently taken over by the Chinese government, which is prosecuting its chairman for “economic crimes.”
— CNN’s Daniel Shane contributed to this report