HNA Group plans to sell part or even its entire USD6.5 billion stake in Hilton Worldwide, adding to the USD6.2 billion of domestic and foreign assets it has dumped this year to repay its borrowings. HNA “has determined to pursue a sale of some or all of the common stock” that it currently holds in Hilton Worldwide, the U.S. company said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Currently, HNA owns 26.1% of Hilton, one of the world’s largest hotel operators, which is worth about USD6.5 billion.

HNA bought the stake in Hilton in 2016 from its biggest shareholder, the U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group for USD6.5 billion. Later that year, Hilton Worldwide split into three independent units – real estate business Park Hotels and Resorts, timeshare business Hilton Grand Vacations, and Hilton Worldwide – giving HNA stakes in each unit. Last month, HNA sold its stakes in Park Hotels and Resorts and in Hilton Grand Vacations for USD1.4 billion and USD1.14 billion separately.

While a successful sale of the Hilton Worldwide stake could generate handsome returns, it would be far from adequate to address HNA’s liquidity crunch. In the first 11 months of last year, the Hainan-based company saw its short-term and long-term debt – including bank loans and bonds – reach CNY637.5 billion, up 36% from a year earlier, according to an HNA filing, about 42% more than the 2017 gross domestic product of CNY446.3 billion for Hainan province. HNA has been planning massive job cuts and accelerating the sale of overseas assets, as the Chinese authorities crack down on Chinese companies’ offshore investments, particularly in real estate, hotels, and movie studios. HNA Group has sold more than USD6 billion worth of domestic and foreign assets so far this year. The assets were part of an overseas portfolio worth USD50 billion which it had built up in the past three years, the South China Morning Post reports.