HNA Group has asked the government of Hainan Province to lead a work group dedicated to resolving its increasing liquidity risks after a slowdown in business caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

HNA Group is not able to thoroughly deal with liquidity risks itself, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account Saturday.

HNA directly owns or holds stakes in a number of domestic carriers, including Hainan Airlines, and is among many Chinese companies pressured by the coronavirus outbreak that has forced widespread flight cancellations.

The work group is being led by Gu Gang, chairman of Hainan Development Holdings Co., an investment arm of the government of the southern province, the WeChat post said.

Officials from the Hainan Yangpu Economic Development Zone, the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s Central and Southern Regional Administration and China Development Bank are also involved in the work team, HNA said.

The move came after the group failed to resolve liquidity difficulties that stretch back to late 2017, it said.

The government rescue of the fallen giant — it was once the top shareholder of iconic companies such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG — makes HNA one of the biggest corporate casualties of the outbreak. To limit the economic impact of the virus, China is considering bailing out the hobbled airline industry and the People’s Bank of China has said it will work on supporting domestic consumption.

HNA, which started as a regional airline nearly three decades ago, had been selling off assets after spending more than US$40 billion in a buying binge that left it with one of the highest levels of corporate debt in China.

Before the virus hit, HNA was returning to its aviation roots, and in November the group announced it would divide its businesses into airlines, aviation leasing and airports, with the rest being lumped under its “non-aviation asset management” unit.(SD-Agencies)