The move could lead to further consolidation in the container leasing business.
HNA Group is looking to sell a number of its transportation and logistics assets, according to media reports, including the container lessor Seaco and the logistics company Ingram Micro.
In a commentary, Wells Fargo Securities noted that there have been reports since January in the Chinese media that HNA is looking to sell Seaco, reportedly the fourth-largest container lessor in the world after Triton International, the Florens subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Development and Textainer.
The reports of the possible sale of Seaco have received new publicity after a report by Bloomberg that HNA has hired an adviser for a possible divestiture of Seaco from HNA’s Bohai Capital Holding,
“Surveying the competitive landscape for potential buyers, we think the target audience includes financial buyers or strategic operators,” wrote Michael Webber of Wells Fargo. Those strategic buyers would include Triton, Textainer and CAI International.
Wells Fargo said that HNA and Bravia Capital acquired Seaco from General Electric in 2011 for $1.05 billion and that Bohai acquired Cronos, another container lessor, in 2015 for $615 million, merging it into Seaco.
Wells Fargo said, “Seaco has remained largely absent from the recovery in new box leasing over the past 18 months, leading us to believe it would eventually be offloaded.”
While HNA acquired both GE Seaco and Cronos at premium valuations, Wells Fargo said, “We’ll expect any bid to be closer to public valuations today. … Given the elevated cost basis, we think HNA may struggle to find a bid at or above book on the asset.”
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that HNA “is in talks to sell California-based technology distributor IngramMicro Inc. — which it bought for $6 billion in 2016 — and Zurich cargo handler Swissport International Ltd.”
A spokesman for IngramMicro said the company did not have a comment.
HNA, which owns airlines and hotels, also is planning to “completely exit its stake in Deutsche Bank and unload the vast majority of overseas investments it made in recent years,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
The co-founder and co-chairman of HNA, Wang Jian, died in France in July after an accidental fall during a vacation.
HNA reportedly seeking to sell Seaco, Ingram Micro
