[dragonsky]

Chinese insurer acquiring Hotel del Coronado as part of $6.5B deal

Blackstone Group, a New York private equity firm, has agreed to sell its Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns 16 luxury properties, to Anbang Insurance Group, a person familiar with the transaction said Saturday.

The portfolio, according to Strategic's website, includes the Santa Monica hotel and the famed Coronado hotel, as well as two other Southern California properties -- the Montage Laguna Beach and the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. There are three properties in the Bay Area: the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

Beijing-based Anbang has been investing in luxury U.S. hotel properties, including its acquisition last year of the Waldorf Astoria in New York for $1.95 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-del-coronado/