HNA Chairman’s family tightens grip on company’s management
August 28, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng promoted two family members this month, tightening his family’s control over the conglomerate after the sudden death of Co-Chairman Wang Jian last month. He promoted his son Daniel Chen to Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the group, responsible for HNA’s international business, while his nephew Dennis Chen became Chief Investment Officer (CIO). The management changes come as Chen seeks to persuade banks, investors and the government to restore their confidence in a group that is saddled with one of the biggest piles of debt in corporate China – more than USD85 billion as of the end of December. The group is so indebted that its interest expenses surged to a record CNY32.1 billion in 2017, exceeding its earnings and topping all other non-financial companies in Asia. Deceased Co-Chairman Wang Jian was the mastermind behind the purchase of many of the assets that are now being sold. Adam Tan remains CEO of the group.
HNA was at the forefront of an unprecedented shopping spree by acquisition-hungry firms seeking out high-profile assets around the world before the Chinese government started reining them in last year amid concerns about unsustainable corporate debt levels. The company also caught the attention of regulators in the U.S. and Europe over questions about its ownership.
Daniel Chen is also Vice General Secretary at the Cihang charity, which is a big shareholder of HNA Group, and President of investment firm Pacific American Investment. He received a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from the University of Washington and completed Harvard Business School’s China Business Leader Executive Training Program.
Dennis Chen, has more than 11 years of management experience and has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts. He also held various positions at HNA Group International, a unit formed in Hong Kong in 2010 to be the Chinese conglomerate’s offshore investment and foreign capital management arm.
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