Mirae Asset bids for 6.7 trillion won hotels deal in US
Mirae Asset Financial Group is seeking to acquire 15 luxury hotels in the U.S., a package deal worth about 6.7 trillion won ($5.53 billion), the group official said Friday.
According to the official, Chinese insurer Anbang Insurance Group placed its 15 luxury hotels in the U.S. on sale en bloc. The 15-property deal includes the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, the JW Marriott Essex House in New York and the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Bloomberg said Mirae Asset is already in talks with Anbang to arrange financing and reach an agreement on terms of a purchase. If talks are successful, Mirae Asset is expected to make a nonrefundable deposit by the end of this month.
A Mirae Asset Group official, however, partly denied the allegations.
“Mirae Asset has participated in the bid to acquire Anbang Insurance Group’s 15 properties. But the deal hasn’t concluded yet,” the official said.
“We understand Mirae Asset has just been nominated to the shortlist. There are other bidders for the deal.”
The official added the other bidders include Brookfield Asset Management and the consortium led by a business representative to the U.K’s billionaire Barclay twins.
In 2016, Anbang Insurance Group acquired the 15 hotels from Strategic Hotels & Resorts for about $5.5 billion as part of the group’s global purchasing spree for international trophy assets. Strategic Hotels & Resorts is owned by the world’s largest private equity fund (PEF) Blackstone.
The group had to place them on sale to secure quick cash reserves as Chinese authorities seized control of Anbang and then sentenced group Chairman Wu Xiaohui to 18 years in prison.
Mirae Asset Group has been Korea’s most active financial player to seek promising overseas assets to diversify its business portfolio.
It announced last month the group will participate in acquisition financing for global PEF CVC Capital Partners’ takeover of Swedish building material maker Ahlsell. The deal is estimated to cost more than 3 trillion won.
Mirae Asset Daewoo, the group’s brokerage unit, posted a 219.4 billion won net profit in the second quarter of the year.