Consortium led by S.Korea's Mirae Asset to buy 15 U.S. hotels from China's Anbang (updated)

Mirae Asset Life Insurance

11/09/2019 03:24

(Adds details on the consortium, background on Anbang)
    SEOUL, Sept 11 (Reuters) - A consortium led by South Korea's
Mirae Asset Global Investments said on Wednesday it agreed to
buy 15 hotels in the United States from Chinese troubled insurer
Anbang Insurance Group  ANBANG.UL . 
    Anbang is in the process of selling down its overseas
assets, after the Chinese government took control of the
conglomerate last year.
    The hotels are in U.S. cities including New York, San
Francisco and Los Angeles, Mirae Asset Global Investments, an
asset management arm of Mirae Asset Group, said in a statement.
    "The size of the deal is about $5.8 billion and the deal is
expected to be closed by end of January next year," a source
with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters. 
    Anbang has been one of China’s most acquisitive companies,
signing over $30 billion of deals in recent years. But in
February last year, the Chinese government took control over the
firm, part of a campaign to reduce financial risk. 
    Anbang's former chairman, Wu Xiaohu, was later sentenced to
18 years in prison for fraud and embezzlement.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2451R8
    Anbang put its $2.4 billion property portfolio in Japan up
for sale in August.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25A1EJ
    South Korea's financial group Mirae Asset has invested
aggressively in overseas real estate in the last two years. It
jointly bought a skyscraper office tower in Paris in
July. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN245014.

 (Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park; editing by Darren
Schuettler and Stephen Coates)
 ((Heekyong.Yang@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5647;))