China Development Bank is heading a team to oversee indebted HNA Group Co. Ltd.'s asset sales, Reuters reported Dec. 14, citing people familiar with the situation.

A group led by people from the policy bank, which is HNA's largest creditor, has been closely monitoring the company's asset sales since the second half from HNA's headquarters. The bank will not be involved in individual deal negotiations; however, all transactions will need the approval of China Development Bank to go through, the report said, citing two people.

Following a strategy of aggressive acquisition of overseas assets since 2015, HNA has sold in excess of US$12 billion overseas assets in 2018 thus far and has to shed US$23 billion more as per Reuters' calculations.

The bank is pushing the Chinese conglomerate to resolve its balance sheet by mid-2019, two of the people said.

HNA is refocusing its strategy around its core aviation-related assets to improve operations and strengthen its balance sheet, according to a company spokesman cited by Reuters.

The company was recently reported to be selling off 10 assets in China worth a total of 7.6 billion Chinese yuan, including various hotels and development projects.

As of Dec. 14, US$1 was equivalent to 6.91 Chinese yuan.