HNA Group Chairman Chen Feng promoted two family members to key positions at the group this month, strengthening his family's grip on the struggling conglomerate following the sudden death of its second-in-command.
Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Chen Xiaofeng, the son of Chen Feng, has been promoted to be the deputy chief executive officer of the group and will be in charge of the group's international business.Earlier this month, the 65-year-old chairman appointed his nephew, in his thirties, as the group's chief investment officer, who also serves as executive chairman of an investment subsidiary.
HNA Group currently bears the highest debt among Chinese companies, exceeding US$85 billion as of the end of December last year.The death last month of HNA Group Co-Chairman Wang Jian, who is understood to have been the mastermind behind HNA Group's acquisition of a large number of assets that it is now selling, has thrown a wrench into the company's normalization plans.
HNA Group has been at the forefront of an unprecedented global acquisition spree of high-profile assets by some Chinese companies over the past few years; last year Beijing began to limit their acquisitions because of concerns that corporate debt levels will not be able to supportcontinue.HNA has also drawn the attention of U.S. and European regulators, raising questions about its ownership.
Chen Xiaofeng, the aforementioned newly appointed deputy chief executive, was previously named Wang Jian's assistant in June; before that, he was the president of HNA North America.This month, he and his cousin Chao Chen joined the board of Swissport Group.HNA Group acquired the aviation ground handling service provider in 2015.Tan Xiangdong remains the CEO of HNA Group.
