WSJ: China’s Anbang Looking to Sell Luxury Hotel Collection

More than a dozen high-end hotels, including Manhattan’s Essex House Hotel and Wyoming’s Four Seasons Jackson Hole, could soon be under new ownership.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. is looking to sell off its luxury collection of hotels that it acquired for $5.5 billion two years ago.

Anbang was seized by the Chinese government earlier this year, and the decision to sell the entire portfolio of 15 properties is seen as a move to raise cash quickly. Former Chairman and CEO of Anbang, Wu Xiaohui, has since been jailed on charges of fraud and embezzlement; and Anbang was seized in order to prevent the firm from collapsing.

The insurer bought the group of luxury hotels from Blackstone Group LP in 2016 for $5.5 billion, which also includes the Westin St. Francis hotel in San Francisco, the Loews Santa Monica hotel in California, and the Fairmont Chicago hotel.

As far as buyers go, “analysts say Anbang’s luxury hotel portfolio would be too big for all but a small number of buyers, including sovereign-wealth funds and some of the bigger private-equity firms,” according to the article.

Anbang spokesman told WSJ the story was “pure market speculation.”

Anbang, once an unsuccessful bidder for Starwood Hotels & Resorts, also owns New York’s landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel. In 2015, it paid the highest price ever for a U.S. hotel at $1.95 billion. The property, which isn’t part of the portfolio Anbang bought from Blackstone, is closed as it undergoes a massive renovation.

On Tuesday, Anbang revealed the second phase of the project is underway. The hotel is expected to reopen in 2021, with 350 condos, 350 new hotel rooms and suites and renovated public and event spaces for guests.