US investment company Blackstone Group is close to selling a portfolio of American luxury hotels to China's Anbang Insurance Group, news reports said Sunday.
Blackstone's deal to sell its stake in Strategic Hotels & Resorts would amount to $6.5 billion, USA Today reported, adding that the investment firm agreed to buy the hotel owner for nearly $4 billion, including debt, only in December.
Chicago-based real estate investment trust Strategic Hotels & Resorts owns 16 luxury hotels with a total of nearly 7,500 rooms. Some of its hotels are managed by Fairmont, Ritz-Carlton and other chains.
Anbang, which once specialised in car insurance, stormed onto the international property market by acquiring New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel for nearly $2 billion a year ago.
The Chinese group bought the luxury hotel from Hilton World-wide Holdings, of which Blackstone is the largest shareholder.