Long before China’s sprawling HNA Group secured its funding from big western banks, the conglomerate had to tap much smaller investors to finance its early empire building.
In documents — seen by the Financial Times — from a little-known bond deal the company tried to sell in 2012, HNA appears to have had a high tolerance for expensive debt and complex acquisition structures.
The details of the bond deal come at a time when the Chinese group is facing a crackdown from regulators in Beijing and has been investigated in Europe over its purchase of a stake in Deutsche Bank. The Swiss takeover watchdog said late on Friday that HNA had provided “untrue or incomplete” information regarding its ownership when it acquired Gategroup, the Swiss air services company.