There's more to Anbang story than just meets the eye

By Li Xiang (China Daily) Updated: 2015-02-03 07:44

Ping An in July 2013 bought the Lloyds of London building, home to the world's oldest insurance market, for 260 million pounds. Gaw Capital Partners advised that deal as well.

A number of high-profile overseas purchases made by China's insurers and other financial institutions occurred after the industry regulator made it easier for insurers to invest in overseas real estate in 2012. The Lloyds deal was followed by the June 2014 purchase of a tower in London's Canary Wharf for 795 million pounds by a group led by China Life, the nation's largest insurer.

Anbang Insurance Group Co, another major insurer in China, sealed a $1.95 billion purchase of New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel, setting a new record for a single hotel transaction. The deal even provoked US government security concerns as officials soon began to review the deal. No progress has been announced.

Asian buyers spent about 9.9 billion euros ($8.86 billion) on European commercial properties in 2014, compared with 9.4 billion euros in 2013, according to data compiled by DTZ Research in London. The Chinese insurance industry spent an estimated $15 billion on overseas properties last year, according to Knight Frank LLP. That is almost triple the total from two years ago.

Chinese insurers have been drawn to European office buildings because they are typically anchored by tenants with 10-year leases and offer yields as high as 5 percent, according to real estate services company CBRE Group. That compares with Shanghai offices where three- to five-year leases and 4.5 percent yields are typical, CBRE said.

With Chinese financial institutions ramping up their hunt for prime properties, office prices in central London and Manhattan jumped 15 percent and 11 percent, respectively, in the nine months through September, according to CBRE.

Kitty Liu, senior director of CBRE Global Capital Markets, said: "Outbound real estate investment, now a flourishing component of China's overseas investments, is becoming the 'new normal'".

Anbang Insurance Group buys the Waldorf, by JACK FREIFELDER in New York, China Daily

China's Anbang Insurance Group has acquired the world-renowned Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95 billion.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings said it has reached an agreement to sell the 60,000-square-foot landmark property that straddles Lexington and Park avenues.

It will be the largest amount paid for a US hotel, according to research firm Lodging Econometrics, and the highest price paid by a Chinese buyer for a US property, according to commercial real estate brokerage CBRE Group.