Mr. Chen has propelled the privately held HNA onto the world stage through a dizzying array of acquisitions, a spending spree supported by Chinese state banks
and hidden behind a holding company with a complex ownership structure.
“And if I were to serve in government, I’d sign a full recusal, so I wouldn’t be dealing with them.”
Last week, HNA was the subject of wild online speculation after a fugitive Chinese billionaire said in a television interview
that relatives of a senior Chinese leader, Wang Qishan, had a stake in the company.
And two of the company’s top executives — Mr. Chen and his brother, Chen Guoqing — seem determined to make a home in New York.
The strategy and structure allowed Mr. Chen and his top executives to parlay their small
stake in a state-backed airline into a controlling stake in its parent company.
In doing so, a group of six longtime HNA executives — led by Mr. Chen — effectively took the group private.
In just over two decades, Mr. Chen, 63, has helped transform a small airline in southern China into one
of the country’s few global powerhouses, with big stakes in Hilton Hotels, Swissport and Ingram Micro.
The Hainan provincial government asked Mr. Chen, a former pilot with the People’s Liberation Army, to help develop a regional carrier, one
that would be partly owned by the state and partly owned by private investors.
As the company gained momentum, Mr. Chen brought in overseas investors, including the
billionaire George Soros, who in 1995 invested $25 million, for a 25 percent stake.