Auto insurer Anbang to transform into a global investor
Print Edition
CHINA’S Anbang Insurance Group Co has emerged to move into the big league of global real estate and finance.
The Beijing-based firm has raised its offer for US hotel operator Starwood to almost US$14 billion in its latest challenges to the US hotel operator’s merger with Marriott International Inc.
The acquisition of Starwood, owner of the Sheraton and Westin brands, by Anbang would be the largest ever by a Chinese company in the United States.
Established in 2004 as an automotive and property insurer by chairman Wu Xiaohui, Anbang is looking to use its 1.65 trillion yuan (US$253 billion) in assets to transform into a worldwide investor.
“Anbang will have a global footprint. In 10 years, Anbang will have companies on all the world’s continents,” Wu told students at Harvard University last year.
His acquisition strategy is underpinned by an aggressive pursuit of yield-producing companies, those business associates say, funded by cash from selling insurance products and other sources.
In October 2014, Anbang agreed to pay US$1.95 billion for the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, a move Wu said brought the insurer “extra brand recognition” and business opportunities.
Last year, Anbang agreed to buy US insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life for US$1.6 billion, and paid around US$1 billion for South Korea’s Tong Yang Life Insurance Co . It has also bought control of Fidea, a Belgium based insurer, and the Belgian banking operations of Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd. It is in talks to buy Allianz’s South Korean operations.
At home, Anbang has a leading stake in China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd , the country’s biggest private lender, and is a significant shareholder in China Vanke Co , the largest residential property developer.
Anbang holds licenses for selling property, life and health insurance, and operates an annuity insurance business and asset management arm. It doesn’t publish group finances, but says its assets have more than doubled since December 2014.
Two subsidiaries, Anbang Life Insurance and Anbang Annuity Insurance, raised 49 billion yuan (US$7.53 billion) in investment funds last year, mainly through selling high-yielding universal life insurance policies.
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