If last week’s news about Chinese regulators reviewing the borrowing habits of a handful of companies, including HNA, was meant to take the wind out of the sails of the Hainan-based company, there was no signs of it on Monday night in Paris’s historic Petit Palais art museum.
Here the Chinese group kicked off what it dubbed Paris International Week, which among others things will see HNA as the lead sponsor of the Open de France golf tournament. (Not to be outdone, HNA’s aircraft leasing group Avolon signed an MOU at the Paris Air Show last week to purchase 75 Boeing 737 planes, with an option to buy a further 50.)
Monday evening’s affair was to celebrate HNA’s annual charity night, which saw the company make a series of financial commitments to philanthropic initiatives in front of about 300 guests, who drank from magnums of 2008 Château Batailley and dined on a menu that was provided by Michelin starred-chef Joël Robuchon and HNA’s own catering business.