Thread: CA. Chinese acquiring Hotel del Coronado as part of $6.5 BILLION deal

Chinese insurer acquiring Hotel del Coronado as part of $6.5B deal

Blackstone Group has agreed to sell properties to Anbang Insurance Group

By Associated Press | 5:58 p.m. March 12, 2016

The Hotel del Coronado has been sold to the Anbang Insurance Group. — K.C. Alfred

The Loews Santa Monica Beach and the historic Hotel del Coronado near San Diego are being acquired by a Chinese insurance company as part of a $6.5-billion deal.

Blackstone Group, a New York private equity firm, has agreed to sell its Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns 16 luxury properties, to Anbang Insurance Group, a person familiar with the transaction said Saturday.

The portfolio, according to Strategic's website, includes the Santa Monica hotel and the famed Coronado hotel, as well as two other Southern California properties -- the Montage Laguna Beach and the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. There are three properties in the Bay Area: the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

Beijing-based Anbang has been investing in luxury U.S. hotel properties, including its acquisition last year of the Waldorf Astoria in New York for $1.95 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

Buying Strategic Hotels gives Anbang a host of high-end hotels and resorts in a single move. The portfolio's 16 properties include 7,532 rooms as well as meeting and banquet space. Among its other properties are the Fairmont Scottsdale in Arizona and the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Blackstone only completed its acquisition of Strategic Hotels, a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, in December. That sale was valued at $3.93 billion, or about $6 billion, including debt.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because they were not authorized to speak publicly, could not immediately say how much of the $6.5-billion deal value includes debt.

A spokeswoman for Blackstone declined to comment Saturday. An email to a media representative at Anbang was not immediately returned.

The deal was first reported by Bloomberg News.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-del-coronado/

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