Hainan province tourism group among suitors for Amanresorts

HONG KONG / MUMBAI - HNA Group Co, the airline, shipping and hotel group backed by the government of Hainan province, is among the companies bidding for luxury-hotel chain Amanresorts International Pte, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

The people, who declined to be identified because the sale process is private, didn't say how much HNA offered. DLF Ltd, the Indian real estate developer that owns Amanresorts, has received at least five non-binding bids of $400 million to $450 million for the company, a person familiar with the matter said last month.

Buying Amanresorts would add hotels where rooms often cost more than $1,000 a night for HNA, which is making acquisitions in industries ranging from airports to shipping-container leasing.

"Both sides are currently at the preliminary stage of discussion and no material progress has been made," Eric Huang, a spokesman at HNA, said in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg News on the bid for Amanresorts.

Amanresorts owns and manages 25 small luxury resorts worldwide, according to its website.

Sanjey Roy, a spokesman for DLF in New Delhi, declined to comment on the sale.

HNA said in August that it was bidding for Hochtief AG's airport-operations business and is in talks to buy commercial property in Beijing owned by Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd's jailed founder Huang Guangyu.

The same month, US-based General Electric Co said it agreed to sell shipping-container lessor GE SeaCo for $1.05 billion to HNA Group and Bravia Capital.

The Chinese company, based in Haikou City, Hainan province, is in talks to buy a 20 percent stake in Spanish hotel chain NH Hoteles SA, El Confidencial reported on Sept 29, citing unidentified people.

DLF bought a controlling stake in Amanresorts in November 2007 for about $400 million, including $150 million of net debt of the company.

The developer took full ownership of the hotel chain during the fiscal year that ended on March 31 after settling litigation with minority shareholders, according to its annual report.

Bloomberg News