Starwood Capital Sells $2 Billion Stake in Hotels to China Life Insurance
October 18 2016 - 7:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Jarzemsky
Private investment firm Starwood Capital Group said Tuesday it
sold a roughly $2 billion stake in its U.S. hotels to a group led
by China's largest insurance company, China Life Insurance Co
Ltd.
Starwood said China Life would serve as the lead investor to a
group, which includes sovereign wealth funds, in the portfolio
comprising 280 hotels in 40 states.
"We are honored to have been given the opportunity to serve as
stewards of China Life's capital, and thrilled to embark on a
partnership that represents a first-of-its-kind relationship for
our firm," said Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood. "With this
select-service hotel portfolio, China Life has an efficient vehicle
for investing in the United States economy as a whole."
Chinese insurers have shown greater appetite for U.S.
real-estate assets lately. Starwood Capital last year reached a
deal to sell the posh Baccarat Hotel in Manhattan to China's
Sunshine Insurance Group.
Anbang Insurance Group Co. paid nearly $2 billion for the
Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan and bid $14 billion for Starwood
Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which Marriott International
Inc. ultimately bought after Anbang walked away from the deal.
"I would almost call it a new source of capital," Mr. Sternlicht
said. Over the years, the U.S. real-estate market has "seen Middle
Eastern investors, we've seen European investors, we saw the
arrival and withdrawal of the Russians. I think the arrival of the
Chinese life companies is something new."
"They're looking for diversification, and it might extend the
real-estate cycle," he said.
--- Ezequiel Minaya contributed to this article
Write to Matt Jarzemsky at MATTHEW.JARZEMSKY@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 18, 2016 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)
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