China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. is back in the news again, this time with potential ties to the purchase of one of Canada’s largest hotel owners.
According to Bloomberg, Bluesky Hotels & Resorts Inc. purchased InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust, last week for C$2.1 billion (US$1.6 billion). The buyer was unheard of before the deal was announced, and sources involved with the matter say that it may have ties to the Chinese insurance giant.
InnVest on May 10 announced the deal with Bluesky, which it described as a privately held real estate investor incorporated in Canada and backed by Hong Kong capital. Bluesky’s president and chief executive officer, Li Chen or Lydia Chen, has been employed by Anbang and acted on behalf of the Beijing-based insurer in prior deals in Canada, according to Bloomberg sources, and at one point said she was representing Anbang but that it didn’t want to be named as the buyer; she later said she was representing a new capital source called Bluesky.
A federal corporate records search by Bloomberg showed that Bluesky was incorporated in Canada about a month before the InnVest agreement was announced. She was not able to be reached for comment, and InnVest didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Anbang, which made a record-setting purchase of Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, walked away from a US$14 billion bid for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. earlier this year.