This past weekend edition of the Financial Times has a good article [Chinese puzzle behind rise of king dealmaker] on the ownership of HNA Group. In 99 of a 100 topics I can think of, ownership of companies is rarely an issue worth discussing, but this one is.
HNA is a conglomerate in the Chinese tradition of putting together things that can make money and damn the idea that you need a business plan, or a line of business to make them work. The businesses are as diverse as property developers, regional national air carriers, Hilton Hotels, and Deutshe Bank, where it is the largest shareholder. It loans money and solicits funds through companies it owns. It also, my own research shows, is related to a Clinton Foundation friend though the Hainan Cihang Charitable Foundation which owns 15% of the company and Barbara Carlson Gage 1998 GST Exempt Family Trust, which sought and received an exemption from anti-trust restrictions in the US in 2016. Wendy Nelson from that Trust was an invitee to the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative.
The curious thing about the FT analysis is the ownership of almost all of the controlling shares in the Hainan Traffic Administration, which is not be what it sounds like. Leave it to the Chinese to make a company sound like something it isn't. Relationship Science says there is a company by that name [ Hainan Traffic Administration Holding Company Ltd, which does investments in real estate, information technology and energy. This company ties all the major share holders together. The article says it used to have one well-known foreign investor, a major Clinton friend, in the roles of its shareholders, George Soros, who has since sold off those assets.
If you have ever wondered why we can never figure out who gives what money to whom and how corporations in China differ from those in the US, this is a great case study. If you ever wondered where the Chinese make their political investments, you will not find out by reading what is in the public press.
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