News Content

HNA Group reportedly mulls bid for Singapore Logistics firm CWT

HNA GROUP, owner of China's fourth biggest air carrier Hainan Airlines, is said to have approached the biggest shareholder of CWT, to discuss a bid to control of the Singapore logistics company.

Citing people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reports that the Loi family that controls CWT will discuss HNA's interest in coming days and could enter exclusive talks with the Chinese company as soon as next week, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Shares of CWT, which has a market value of about $945 million, jumped as much as 7.4 per cent in Singapore trading Friday and closed at the highest in more than seven months.

CWT's main shareholder C&P Holdings has been approached by various interested parties and is in the process of reviewing their proposals for its business and assets, the company said in a filing to the stock exchange. There is no certainty that the talks would lead to a deal, the logistics company said.

HNA, based on China's only island province of Hainan, a tropical island with beach resorts, has assets valued at more than CNY600 billion (US$92.3 billion), according to its website.

The Chinese group runs businesses including hotels, supermarkets, department stores, insurance firms, ship repairs, logistics and airports that generated combined revenue of nearly CNY190 billion last year, the website shows.