Ingram Micro owner HNA at 'point of life and death'

Strange letter appears on one of HNA's Chinese social media accounts criticising its own financial department

Ingram Micro's parent company HNA is ‘at the point of life and death', according to a bizarre post on one of the Chinese conglomerate's social media accounts.

The post, first reported by the Financial Times, takes aim at the firm's own financial department, slamming it for the handling of a recent investor meeting which resulted in the trading of HNA shares being suspended.

"The finance department has not followed the requests of the company to carry out smooth communication with its investors, doing its work hastily and without sincerity," said the note, which isn't attributed to any individual.

HNA is in financial turmoil having made a string of huge investments over recent years totalling around $40bn. Earlier this year a Chinese government official was brought into the company to help manage a recovery plan.

A large chunk of its interests are in the aviation space, which has been hit hard by lockdowns across the globe.

The firm has flirted with the idea of selling Ingram, with private equity firm Apollo reportedly considering a bid before it went on to acquire Tech Data.

The Financial Times said that the letter alluded to friction between new executive chairman Gu Gang and the HNA financial department.

"This is a big test for all HNA employees. Now HNA has reached the point of life and death," the letter said.

Ingram has repeatedly said that it is not impacted by the woes of its parent company, partly because it is "ring-fenced" because of stipulations put in place by the US government when it was acquired by HNA.