HNA Group Co (海航集團) is seeking to sell some or all of its stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc, part of a global asset purge by the debt-laden Chinese conglomerate.
HNA disclosed its intention to sell the hotel company stake in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
The firm owns 26 percent of Hilton’s stock, or 82.5 million shares with a market value of about US$6.5 billion.
It has already disposed of its stakes in two of the hotel operator’s spinoffs.
Hilton shares rose 1.3 percent to close at US$79.04 in New York on Thursday.
“The fact that we’re not seeing a significant pullback with this announcement suggests that investors not only anticipated it, but are supportive of the overhang being removed, much like ripping a Band-Aid off quickly,” Mizuho Securities USA LLC head of real estate equity capital markets J.T. Deignan said.
HNA has been under pressure to reverse a multibillion-dollar buying spree since the Chinese government last year started to crack down on overseas deals.
The firm has since reduced its stake in Deutsche Bank AG, and sold properties in New York, London, Sydney and Hong Kong.
HNA owns about US$14.6 billion of real estate globally, according to an estimate by Real Capital Analytics Inc.
HNA paid US$6.5 billion last year to acquire from Blackstone Group LP the stake in Hilton Worldwide, which had spun off two of its businesses.
Last month, HNA sold its 25 percent interest in those two groups, Hilton Grand Vacations Inc and Park Hotels & Resorts Inc, for a combined US$2.34 billion.
If it is able to sell its Hilton Worldwide stake at current prices, the conglomerate stands to make a paper profit that is just shy of US$2.35 billion.
With the two Hilton spinoffs, HNA found a way to amend restrictions that kept the stock tied up until next year, leading to speculation that a similar allowance could be made for HNA’s stake in Hilton Worldwide.
Hilton executives have repeatedly said in interviews and in calls with investors that its agreement with HNA contains protections for shareholders.
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