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 The Beijing-based firm has offered $12.8 billion for U.S. hotel
operator Starwood and also agreed this month to pay Blackstone Group
<BX.N> $6.5 billion for Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, whose 16
luxury properties include the Four Seasons Washington D.C.
Established in 2004 as an automotive and property insurer by
chairman Wu Xiaohui, a native of China's entrepreneurial coastal
city Wenzhou, Anbang is looking to use its 1.65 trillion yuan ($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, who is 49 and married
to Deng Zhuorui, a granddaughter of Chinese patriarch Deng Xiaoping,
told students at Harvard University last year.
Business associates describe Wu as passionate, impatient and very
ambitious. He often travels by private jet accompanied by a retinue
of assistants.
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 $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 U.S. insurer Fidelity & Guaranty
Life <FGL.N> for $1.6 billion, and paid around $1 billion for South
Korea's Tong Yang Life Insurance Co <082640.KS>. 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.
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When he set up Anbang, Wu enlisted a small consortium of private and
state investors led by Shanghai Automotive Industry Group Corp, the
parent of a government-owned automaker that has ventures with
General Motors and Volkswagen. State-owned China Petrochemical Corp
later bought a stake.
Anbang's original board included Levin Zhu, former CEO of China
International Capital Corp and son of former premier Zhu Rongji, and
Long Yongtu, China's chief negotiator when it joined the World Trade
Organization. Wu also turned to Chen Xiaolu, a son of Chinese
Marshal Chen Yi, for support.
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 ($7.53 billion) in investment
funds last year, mainly through selling high-yielding universal life
insurance policies.
(Reporting by Matthew Miller and Michelle Price; Editing by Ian
Geoghegan)
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