Chinese group buys stake in Trump aide's investment firm

Beijing, Jan 24: Chinese conglomerate HNA has signed an agreement to buy a controlling stake in SkyBridge Capital, an investment firm owned by US President Donald Trump's adviser Anthony Scaramucci.

SkyBridge Capital, which manages a $12 billion portfolio of assets, announced it was selling the majority of its stake to HNA's financial subsidiary in the US and to conglomerate RON Transatlantic for an undisclosed amount, the China Daily reported on Tuesday.

Scaramucci, who represented Trump's transition team last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will leave the firm in which he is an associate.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 and the detailed financial transactions were not disclosed.

HNA, the parent of Hainan Airlines Co Ltd, China's largest private airline, has strengthened its global portfolio with a string of overseas acquisitions in aviation, logistics and hospitality businesses.

The deal, the first acquisition of an alternative investment firm by HNA, would add to the assets of the group, which are now valued at more than 600 billion yuan ($87 billion), the China Daily reported.

"Our investment in SkyBridge is an important step in HNA Capital's strategy to build a global asset management business," HNA Capital CEO Yang Guang said.

The HNA group, which owns the private Chinese airline Hainan Airlines, recently bought New Zealand's financial agency UCD (belonging to the ANZ New Zealand bank), and owns the largest stake in Spain's NH hotel chain.