Reuters :
New Zealand has blocked HNA Group’s $460 million purchase of a vehicle finance firm owned by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in the latest in a series of setbacks around the world for the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate.
The proposed sale of UDC, New Zealand’s largest non-bank lender, was agreed with ANZ nearly a year ago and the bank had counted on the proceeds to boost its capital.
But New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office (OIO) cited uncertainty over HNA’s ownership structure for the rejection, reflecting mounting international concerns about the aviation-to-shipping group’s transparency and governance.
“The OIO did not determine who the relevant overseas person was from the information provided about ownership and control interests,” the OIO’s deputy chief executive of policy, Lisa Barrett, said in a statement.
HNA, which has announced acquisitions worth more than $50 billion in the past two years, has faced increased questions about its governance since a July announcement outlining its ownership showed two shareholders were proxies for founding executives.
Last month, Swiss regulators found the group had failed to disclose that company executives held controlling stakes in the conglomerate in submissions relating to HNA’s $1.5 billion takeover in 2016 of Gategroup, the airline catering group.
HNA also has faced difficulties in the United States. Earlier this month it was sued by Ness Technologies who accused it of failing to adequately answer questions in a US review, thereby causing a $325 million deal between the two to fail.
Another deal announced in January, for HNA to buy a stake in Skybridge Capital from US President Donald Trump’s former press secretary, Anthony Scaramucci, for an undisclosed sum, is still under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
An HNA spokeswoman said the New Zealand watchdog’s decision was inconsistent with the views of other regulators around the world that had approved HNA and other Chinese investments.
“The current political environment in New Zealand relative to foreign investment will play a significant role in our determination of next steps,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
New Zealand has blocked HNA Group’s $460 million purchase of a vehicle finance firm owned by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in the latest in a series of setbacks around the world for the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate.
The proposed sale of UDC, New Zealand’s largest non-bank lender, was agreed with ANZ nearly a year ago and the bank had counted on the proceeds to boost its capital.
But New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office (OIO) cited uncertainty over HNA’s ownership structure for the rejection, reflecting mounting international concerns about the aviation-to-shipping group’s transparency and governance.
“The OIO did not determine who the relevant overseas person was from the information provided about ownership and control interests,” the OIO’s deputy chief executive of policy, Lisa Barrett, said in a statement.
HNA, which has announced acquisitions worth more than $50 billion in the past two years, has faced increased questions about its governance since a July announcement outlining its ownership showed two shareholders were proxies for founding executives.
Last month, Swiss regulators found the group had failed to disclose that company executives held controlling stakes in the conglomerate in submissions relating to HNA’s $1.5 billion takeover in 2016 of Gategroup, the airline catering group.
HNA also has faced difficulties in the United States. Earlier this month it was sued by Ness Technologies who accused it of failing to adequately answer questions in a US review, thereby causing a $325 million deal between the two to fail.
Another deal announced in January, for HNA to buy a stake in Skybridge Capital from US President Donald Trump’s former press secretary, Anthony Scaramucci, for an undisclosed sum, is still under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
An HNA spokeswoman said the New Zealand watchdog’s decision was inconsistent with the views of other regulators around the world that had approved HNA and other Chinese investments.
“The current political environment in New Zealand relative to foreign investment will play a significant role in our determination of next steps,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
