HNA co-founder Wang Jian dies in France
Chair of Chinese conglomerate suffers accident while on business trip, group announces
Wang Jian, the co-founder and chairman of Chinese aviation-to-finance conglomerate HNA Group, has died following an accident while on a business trip to France, the company said on Wednesday.
Mr Wang, aged 57, was a former civil aviation official and formed part of a small group that founded Hainan Airlines in the early 1990s. He held 15 per cent of the group’s shares, according to public filings. He died on Tuesday, the company said.
“HNA Group extends deepest condolences to Mr Wang’s family and many friends,” the company’s management said in a statement. “Together, we mourn the loss of an exceptionally gifted leader and role model, whose vision and values will continue to be a beacon for all who had the good fortune to know him, as well as for the many others whose lives he touched through his work and philanthropy.”
His death, which the company said occurred in the southern French region of Provence, comes as HNA sells down international assets and struggles to pare domestic debt built up during a rapid expansion over the past few years.
Regional French media reported that a 57-year-old Chinese tourist died on Tuesday morning after falling down the stairs of a church in the hilltop Provençal village of Bonnieux while he was attempting to take a photograph.
HNA changed its website to grey in a gesture of mourning.
The company has become one of a handful of Chinese multinationals to expand aggressively overseas over the past decade, acquiring nearly 10 per cent of Deutsche Bank before selling off some shares earlier this year and taking over a controlling stake in hotelier Hilton Worldwide in 2016.