Bank of America will help Anbang Insurance Group sell its $5.5 billion portfolio of luxury hotels in the U.S.
The Chinese company chose Bank of America to assist with the sale after looking for requests for proposals from multiple advisers, according to Bloomberg. The portfolio of hotels the financial giant will help sell includes San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis, Chicago’s Fairmont and New York’s Essex House Hotel.
Anbang had agreed to purchase the portfolio, known as Strategic Hotels & Resorts, in 2016 from Blackstone Group for about $6.5 billion but ultimately paid $5.5 billion.
Anbang’s former chairman Wu Xiaohui was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May on convictions of fraud and embezzlement. The hotel sale would be Anbang’s most significant foreign deal since the Chinese government took over its operations. [Bloomberg] – Eddie Small