HNA's liquidity in question as Citic Bank cites repayment issues

Shanghai

CITIC Bank Corp said a unit of HNA Group Co is having difficulty repaying certain short-term debts, just over a week after the Chinese conglomerate said it won't default in the coming year.

HNA Aviation Group Co has had trouble paying bankers' acceptances - debt instruments that mature in the short term - and Citic Bank is working with HNA Group to try to resolve the situation, the Chinese lender said in a statement sent exclusively to Bloomberg News over the weekend. The group has several bonds and loans from multiple banks maturing at similar times, causing a "temporary liquidity" issue, Citic Bank said.