Anbang

Anbang Insurance Group (Chinese: 安邦保险集团; pinyin: Ānbāng Bǎoxiǎn Jítuán) is a Chinese holding company whose subsidiaries mainly deal with insurance, banking, and financial services based in Beijing. As of February 2017, the company had assets worth more than CN¥1.9 trillion (US$301 billion).[1] The Financial Times has described Anbang as "one of China’s most politically connected companies."[2]

For the room in traditional Korean architecture, see Anbang (room).
Anbang Insurance Group
Native name
安邦保险集团
Private
IndustryFinancial services
Founded2004 (2004)
Headquarters
Beijing
,
China
Area served
China
Key people
Wu Xiaohui, Chairman & GM
ProductsDiversified Insurance
Websitewww.anbanggroup.com

Anbang was founded by Wu Xiaohui in 2004 as a regional car insurance company. Chen Xiaolu, a prominent princeling and son of Marshal Chen Yi, served as an early director, although Chen stated that he was merely an advisor and not a shareholder.[3] Its founding shareholders included state-owned car maker Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp., which held a 20% stake. In 2005 state-owned oil company Sinopec bought a 20% share.[4]

Anbang has more than 30,000 employees in China and is engaged in offering various kinds of insurance and financial products.[5][6]

Anbang's chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was detained in Beijing by government authorities on June 8, 2017 as an investigation of Anbang's activities.[7] In February 2018, China's insurance regulator took control of Anbang, and Wu was prosecuted. On May 10, 2018, Wu Xiaohui was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment after he was found guilty of fraud and embezzlement.[8]

Overseas acquisitions

The company holds a geographically diversified portfolio of assets in financial services real estate and lodging.

  • In 2014, Anbang Insurance acquired Belgium insurer, Fidea Verzekeringen.
  • In 2014, Anbang Insurance purchased the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel from Blackstone for nearly US$2 billion.
  • In 2015 Anbang purchased Dutch insurer VIVAT from the Dutch state. They paid €150m outright, and agreed to infuse between €770m and €1bn in fresh capital, and to take on €550m of debt.[9]
  • In 2015 Anbang paid US$1 billion for a 57.5% stake in South Korea’s Tongyang Life, an insurance company, in what was reported to be the first direct investment in a South Korean financial institution by a mainland China entity.[10]
  • In November 2015, Anbang announced that it would buy Iowa-based insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life for about $1.57 billion.[11] Note: this deal was terminated and FGL was purchased by CF Corp in 2017.
  • In February 2016, the Financial Post in Canada reported that is to purchase a 66% stake in four office towers of Bentall Centre in Vancouver from Ivanhoe Cambridge, a subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec;[12] and subsequently remaining 33% stake in May 2016.[13] Terms of the deal were undisclosed. But the price paid by Anbang is reported to value the property at over CAD$1 Billion.
  • In March 2016, Blackstone agreed to a further US$6.5 billion sale of 16 landmark US hotels owned by the Strategic Hotels & Resorts REIT, including the historic Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, several Four Seasons resorts, and Manhattan's JW Marriott Essex House hotel.[5][14]
  • In April 2016, Anbang purchased Allianz’s South Korea operations.[15][16]

  • In 2016, Anbang purchased Retirement Concepts, a Canadian company with 24 retirement homes in British Columbia, Calgary and Montreal.[17] The company was later criticised after three of the retirement homes on Vancouver Island were put under the management of the health authority due to reported inadequate care of facility residents in December 2019.[18]


Anbang has also made large-scale bids that did not culminate in a transaction. On March 14, 2016, a consortium led by Anbang made a US$14 Billion offer for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.[19] Other members of the consortium included J.C. Flowers & Co and Primavera Capital Group.[20][21] The latter is headed by Fred Hu, the former Chairman of Greater China at Goldman Sachs.[22][23] The bid was ultimately unsuccessful.[24] In 2017, the company also ended talks to invest billions of dollars in a Manhattan office tower (666 Fifth Avenue) owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House aide.[25]

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References
  1. "About Anbang Insurance Group Co., Ltd".
  2. Massoudi, Arash; Fontanella-Khan, James (2016-03-13). "China's Anbang agrees $6.5bn hotel deal with Blackstone". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  3. Gan, Nectar (2018-03-01). "Chinese princeling and Anbang 'adviser' Chen Xiaolu dies at 71". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  4. "Chinese insurer has global ambitions". SFGate. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  5. "WSJ: What is Anbang Insurance?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  6. Weinland, Don (July 17, 2016). "Financial Times: New wealth management products power Anbang and rivals". Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  7. Tsang, Aime. "Morning Agenda: Anbang Chairman Detained".
  8. "China Sentences Anbang's Wu Xiaohui to 18 Years in Prison". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  9. "New York Waldorf hotel's owner Anbang buys Dutch insurer Vivat - FT.com". Financial Times. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  10. Mundy, Simon (2015-02-17). "China's Anbang steps up buying spree with $1bn Tongyang deal". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  11. "China's Anbang wins CFIUS approval to buy Fidelity & Guaranty Life". Reuters. 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  12. "Chinese investors snag Vancouver's biggest real estate prize: All four towers of the Bentall Centre". Financial Post. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  13. "Here's How Anbang Can Unwind Its $10 Billion Deal Spree". Bloomberg.com. 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2017-08-02.
  14. Yu, Hui-Yong (13 March 2016). "Blackstone Said to Sell Hotels to Anbang for $6.5 Billion". Bloomberg Business.
  15. Wu, Kane. "China's Anbang to Buy Allianz's Korean Operations After Dropping Starwood Bid". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  16. Ralph, Oliver (2016-04-06). "Anbang to acquire Allianz's South Korea operations". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  17. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/chinese-company-anbang-buys-stake-in-bc-based-retirement-home-chain/article33065536/
  18. Hunter, Justine (2019-12-03). "B.C. health authorities intervene in three China-owned senior care facilities after reports of neglect". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
  19. "Starwood receives nearly $14 billion buyout bid from Chinese group".
  20. "Anbang Insurance: The Chinese Company You Never Heard Of That's Trying To Take Over U.S. Hotels". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  21. Ting, Deanna; 14, Skift-Mar; Pm, 2016 4:00. "New Starwood Takeover Bid: The Players Behind the $14 Billion Offer". Skift. Retrieved 2016-03-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. "Primavera Capital Group". www.primavera-capital.com. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  23. Carew, Rick; Steinberg, Julie; Jamerson, Joshua. "Starwood Gets Offer From Group Led by Anbang, Threatening Marriott Deal". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  24. Sender, Henny; Massoudi, Arash; Weinland, Don (2016-04-05). "Inside the deal: How Anbang's chairman Wu nearly landed Starwood". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
  25. Forsythe, Michael; Bagli, Charles V. (2017-03-29). "No Deal Between Kushners and Chinese Company Over Fifth Avenue Skyscraper". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-06-16.
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