Oki Golf announced on October 11  that it has sold its 10 local golf courses at eight locations for USD 137.5 million to a Chinese conglomerate, but Oki will continue to operate the courses.

The buyer is HNA Holdings, a unit of a giant company that operates airlines, hotels and businesses that deal in financial services and real estate, and also owns other golf courses around the world.

Oki Golf will continue to manage the courses that were sold and said there were no plans to change the courses. Oki will pay HNA an annual rent of USD 7.1 million for five years.

HNA owns Hainan Airlines, which flies between Seattle and China, and recently bought the Carlson Hotels, operator of brands such as Radisson.

The company told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post that it was enticed by the number of rich Chinese tourists playing golf, and saw Seattle as a gateway into the North American golf market.

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