HNA Group Awarded Brand of the Year by the China General Chamber of Commerce, Presented by Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman

NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) awarded HNA Group with the Brand of the Year Award in recognition of the company's actively expanding industrial footprint and rising global brand equity. HNA's Chairman of the Board Chen Feng accepted the award presented by Blackstone's CEO Stephen Schwarzman at the CGCC's Chinese Lunar New Year of the Dog Gala in New York City.

CGCC is one the largest non-profits representing Chinese enterprises in the United States. Its annual gala promotes its mission of establishing ties between Chinese enterprises and the global business community, while strengthening U.S. and Chinese economic cooperation. In achieving this award, HNA Group is recognized by CGCC for its evolution in becoming one of the world's top companies with diversified business assets, developing from a regional air carrier to a global Fortune 500 company with more than $145 billion in assets.

"HNA Group had a year of incredible growth in expanding the brand's influence around the globe," HNA Chairman Chen Feng said. "This award not only recognizes our expanding global footprint, but marks our progress in bringing the world closer together through deepened U.S. market ties."

Since co-founding the company in 1993, Chen Feng has helped transform HNA into one of China's largest privately held companies with substantial investments in travel, hospitality, logistics and finance. HNA's significant strategic investments in companies that include Ingram Micro, Avolon, Swissport, GateGroup, Deutsche Bank, Hilton Hotels, Carlson Hotels, and Virgin Australia. Mr. Chen has received several awards recognizing his excellence in business and entrepreneurship, including being named "Asian Business Leader" by CNBC.

"I am pleased to present this award in recognition of HNA Group's business achievements," Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman said. "I could go on for a long time about HNA's generosity, from providing wells in Hainan Province, to free cataracts operations in many countries across the world. This is really somewhat unusual, especially in a Chinese context, and they've also generously supported, , the Schwarzman Scholars, providing a library for the programme."

Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-founder of Blackstone, a leading global asset manager with more than $361 billion assets under management. And Schwarzman is an active philanthropist focused on education. In partnership with Tsinghua University, HNA Group contributes to the Schwarzman Scholars program, allowing young leaders from around the world to live and learn in China. HNA Group has committed to US$25 million in donations over a three-year period.

"Driven by its mission of Sharing Dreams, HNA Group's development as a global brand has been outstanding to watch, as it has helped to power job growth in markets around the world, including the United States and China", said Chen Xu, Chairman of CGCC.

In recent years HNA has made significant steps on its way to becoming a truly global brand, with its flagship carrier Hainan Airlines being listed by Skytrax in 2017 as a global Top 10 airline, and a 5-star airline for the seventh consecutive year. Its significant investments in globally recognized brands such as Ingram Micro, Avolon, Swissport, Gategroup, Hilton and Deutsche Bank have brought the HNA brand name to the attention of an even greater audience than before.

About the HNA Group

HNA Group is a global Fortune 500 company focused on tourism, logistics and financial services. Since its founding in 1993, HNA Group has evolved from a regional airline based on Hainan Island in southern China into a global company with approximately $145 billion of assets, over $90 billion in annual revenues, and an international workforce of 410,000 employees, primarily across America, Europe and Asia. HNA's tourism business is a fast-growing, vertically-integrated global player with market-leading positions in aviation, hotels and travel services. HNA operates and invests in nearly 3,200 hotels with over 380,000 rooms across major markets, and has 1,250 aircraft carrying nearly 100 million passengers to 270 cities worldwide. HNA's Logistics business is a leader in logistics and supply chain management with capabilities in shipping and equipment manufacturing, maritime transportation, third-party payment platforms and project finance. In financial services, HNA is China's largest non-bank leasing company, and a leading provider of a diverse set of businesses in equipment leasing, insurance, asset management, investment banking and credit services. For more information, visit www.hnagroup.com

About the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC)

Founded in 2005, the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC) has been recognized as the largest and most influential non-profit organization representing Chinese enterprises in the United States. CGCC's mission is to promote Chinese investment in the United States and to enhance cooperation between the Chinese and U.S. business communities. Today, CGCC's membership consists of more than 1,500 companies, including both Chinese and non-Chinese companies. Fifty-five CGCC members are ranked on the 2017 Fortune Global 500. In 2016 alone, CGCC Chinese member companies invested approximately $50 billion in various industries in the United States, and employed more than 200,000 people throughout the United States.

Media Contacts

HNA Group  
Daniel Workman
Edelman Public Relations
(202) 312-1088
[email protected]

CGCC 
Sherry Yuan Qu
(646) 928-5122 
[email protected]

SOURCE HNA Group