HNA Property Arm Rallies On Kai Tak Sale News

Shares of an HNA unit have rallied after the cash-strapped conglomerate said it is in talks to sell its fourth and last parcel of residential land in Kai Tak.

The property arm of HNA – Hong Kong International Construction Investment Management – said it is in discussion with a potential buyer, but no legally binding deal has yet been entered.

It didn't give further details in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company shares rallied more than 3 percent during trading. But they later erased most of the gain and ended just 0.8 percent higher at HK$2.39.

The company bought the site for more than HK$7.4 billion in 2017. And it's the last residential site it owns in Kai Tak after it sold three other sites for more than HK$22.3 billion last year. Two of them went to Henderson Land and one to Wheelock.

The HNA unit bought the four sites for a total of HK$27.2 billion between November 2016 and March 2017 by government tenders.

At that time, HNA's chairman Chen Feng had said that he would help pour cold water on Hong Kong's red hot home prices by selling the Kai Tak flats at cost.

But HNA's finances later ran into trouble after mainland regulators tightened scrutiny on its opaque shareholding structure. It has sold off a number of high profile property deals it made across the world.