China Development Bank provides loan to Hainan Airlines for acquisition of increased capital in Africa World Airlines in July 2012

Project narrative

In July 2012, China Development Bank provided a loan to Hainan Airlines for the acquisition of increased capital in Africa World Airlines Ltd. (AWA or 非洲世界航空公司), a Ghanaian-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) that was formed in 2012 to provide low-cost operations. The face value and borrowing terms of the loan is unknown. The purpose of the project was to establish AWA -- a joint venture of a Hong Kong-based investment company (70% equity stake), Ghana SAS Financial Group (20% equity stake) and Ghana Social Security and National Insurance Trust (10% equity stake) -- in order provide safe, convenient and high-quality air transportation services to passengers in Ghana and other countries in West Africa. AWA launched its commercial operations in September 21, 2012. By 2014, AWA had eight ERJ145 planes offering services on three domestic routes (Ghana-Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Tamale and Accra-Takoradi) and five international routes (Accra-Lagos, Accra-Abuja, Accra-Monrovia, Accra-Freetown and Lagos-Monrovia) and it also operated charter flights. Then, in January 2021, HNA Group's creditor applied to a Chinese court for the company to be placed in bankruptcy and restructured. The assets included stakes in more than a dozen airlines, including AWA.