China’s HNA Group has cut its stake in Deutsche Bank, with a regulatory filing showing that the cash-strapped conglomerate has lent some of its shares in the German lender to raise funding.
HNA Group said in the filing on Friday that its share of voting rights in the German bank had fallen from 9.9 to 9.2 per cent. While this holding still makes the airline-to-finance conglomerate Deutsche Bank’s largest shareholder on paper, the filing said that HNA had lent 4.9 per cent of its stake in the bank, while retaining a right to recall the stock.
HNA has shown increasing signs of liquidity problems in recent months and has this year looked to sell or raise financing against assets, putting its $40bn debt-fuelled buying spree over the previous three years into reverse.