HNA Group, parent of the large Chinese airline Hainan Airlines Co., Ltd. (shse:600221), just purchased the Guangzhou Zhoutouzui project via its subsidiary from Skyfame Realty (Holdings) Limited (sehk:0059) for CNY 1.3 billion. 
 
In the real estate industry, HNA Group has not developed many projects. The deal is believed to help the group accelerate its property development.
 
The project, based in Guangzhou, the economic hub in south China, has a total floor area of 316,000 square meters. Two days after both sides agreed the deal, Skyfame Realty issued a financial report for the first half of 2011, saying that it lost HKD 20 million.
 
As a matter of fact, the Hong Kong-listed company has become an important partner of HNA Group since 2009. In 2009, it transferred a hotel, located in Guangzhou and featuring a good profit-making mode, to HNA Group.
 
In recent years, HNA Group, based in the southernmost Chinese province of Hainan, has been expanding its businesses in a wide range, from aviation, real estate, to hotel operations.
 
The Hainan-based group is bidding for the airport assets under the aegis of Hochtief AG, a deal evaluated at more than EUR 1 billion.
 
The potential deal is deemed to be part of the Chinese group's latest efforts to expand its overseas business in the wake of a slumping asset sale price globally, pointed out market observers.
 
Shanghai Nine Dragon Co., Ltd. (shse:600555), a Shanghai-based real estate development company, disclosed a plan to sell a stake of not more than 30 percent in the company to the real estate arm of HNA Group or the arm's affiliate, sources said at the beginning of 2011.
 
Besides, HNA Group is reported to have become a leading bidder for GE SeaCo, a container leasing joint venture that US General Electric (GE) and its partner are putting on the block.
 
The venture, ranking the fifth in the world's container leasing field, has assets worth about USD 1 billion, but its liabilities reached USD 2.5 billion, said people in the know.
 
In addition, HNA Group lately announced that it signed an agreement to make an investment in ACT Airlines Inc., a Turkish cargo airline.
  
However, it did not disclosed how much it invested in.
 
ACT Airlines, with four A300-B4s currently, will more than double its fleet to about 10 freighters within two years after the HNA investment.
 
Established in 2004 and headquartered at Istanbul, the company operates non-scheduled cargo flights. It had more than USD 35 million in total assets at the end of 2010.
 
(USD 1 = CNY 6.46, USD 1 = EUR 0.67, USD 1 = HKD 7.76)
 
SOURCE: www.menafn.com
 
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