THE DEAL under which China’s HNA Hotel Group was to have bought a 20 per cent stake in Spain’s NH Hoteles (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 14) has fallen through because of the current state of international markets.
NH informed the Spanish stock market regulatory body, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), of the development on Monday, blaming the breakdown on the “volatility and uncertainty” of global financial markets.
The value of the proposed investment, which would have made HNA the second largest stakeholder in NH, and anticipated the establishing of a joint hotel management company in China, had already been marked down from the original 431.6 million euro (US$560 million) price tag set in May, to 329.8 million euros.
HNA, the owner of Hainan Airlines, but also with its own Lucky Way International Travel Agency chain, was due to have put some of its existing properties under this new joint banner. In return, NH Hoteles was to receive favoured status for HNA customers visiting Europe.
NH said in its statement to the CNMV that the two sides were still exploring the possibility of some form of strategic alliance.
