A group of Chinese conglomerates went on global buying spree starting about a decade ago, netting such trophy assets as the fabled Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, a major stake in Hilton Worldwide (HLT.US) and French resort operator Club Med, among many others. Fast forward to the present, when nearly all of those buyers, most notably former highflyers Anbang and HNA Group are now largely insolvent or don’t even exist anymore, the victims of taking on too much debt.
One of the few companies to survive largely intact from that era has been Fosun, one of the more transparent names in that group, whose portfolio contains a large number of listed companies led by its flagship Fosun International (0656.HK), the holding company for many of its assets. But Fosun is now showing its own signs of stress, making recent headlines as it starts to sell down some of its assets to raise cash to service its massive debt load.
The latest of those sales was in the headlines this week, when Fosun International reduced its stake in New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (1336.HK; 601336.SH), financial media Caixin reported, citing a stock exchange filing from New China Life. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange website shows Fosun International’s holdings of New China Life’s Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen from 17.10% at the start of the year to 15.08% at present. A Fosun spokesman said the sale was part of the company's normal trading among the many assets in its portfolio.