Chinese court greenlights HNA Group’s restructuring plan

Hainan Airlines Holding is set to proceed with its restructuring and creditor repayment plan after the Hainan Provincial Higher People’s Court accepted the proposal on October 31.

The move comes after HNA Group’s creditors, investors, and administrators voted in favour of the plan almost a week ago. As previously reported, the Chinese mega conglomerate and 320 related companies will be split into four separate entities – airlines, airports, financial, and commercial – with each to operate independently of the other. Liaoning Fangda Group has already agreed to assume control of the airlines entity under Hainan Airlines (HU, Haikou) alongside:

Shanxi Airlines (Taiyuan);
Fuzhou Airlines (FU, Fuzhou);
Air Changan (9H, Xi’an Xianyang);
Urumqi Air (UQ, Urumqi);
China Xinhua Airlines (CXH, Beijing Capital);
Lucky Air (China) (8L, Dali City);
GX Airlines (GX, Nanning);
HNA Aviation Technology Co., Ltd.;
Beijing Kehang Investment Co., Ltd.; and
Hainan Fushun Investment and Development Co., Ltd.
In terms of repayment, Hainan Airlines Holding and its 10 affiliates will repay CNY161.3 billion yuan (USD25.2 billion) against claims of around CNY400 billion (USD62.5 billion) sought by their 4,915 creditors.

According to the Caixing news agency, creditors will be paid off over the next ten years starting from 2022, with interest paid annually on one or two days. From the second or the fourth year on, the principal will also be repaid in increasing amounts, starting from 2% and growing to 20%.