China's HNA Group buys major stake in Germany's struggling Hahn airport

Ahead of Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Germany, Chinese firm HNA Group’s buying spree in Europe is raising hopes as well as concerns.

Frankfurt Hahn Airport, a small, loss-making enterprise near Frankfurt, is not an obvious target for China’s most prolific buyer of foreign firms, and the regional German government was under pressure to sell the airport.

Hanna Hammer, a staff member of Hahn Airport, says that the selling process came at the right time and “it was an opportunity to have a finishing point for the Silk Road at this airport,” referring to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Meanwhile, the finalization of the deal means new profitability may be around the corner for the airport.

Concerns over the takeover have however arisen in Germany. According to journalist Wolfgang Hirn, even though many of the Chinese companies investing in Germany are on the Forbes 500 list, people still know little about them. “Everybody says: ‘Who is that? Is it a private company? Is it a state company?” Hirn says.

Data provider Dealogic reports that between 2015-2016, HNA Group invested 11.6 billion US dollars overseas, buying into the aviation, logistics and tourism industries. Recently, the company has become the largest single shareholder at Deutsche Bank, despite increasing scrutiny of takeovers by Chinese and European regulators.

(CGTN)