COVID-19：Anbang Insurance unit sues Mirae of South Korea to complete US$5.8 billion
US luxury hotel deal Anbang seeks to compel Mirae to conclude deal after pandemic slams hotel occupancy rate below 10 per cent in many cities
Sale and purchase agreement was slated to close on April 17 amid financing problem, people familiar said
An Anbang Insurance Group unit
sued to force South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments to complete its US$5.8 billion purchase of a portfolio of US luxury hotels as the coronavirus pandemic roils financial markets and travel.
In a public summary of the lawsuit filed under seal in Delaware on Monday, officials of the Anbang unit said
it “seeks an order forcing defendants to specifically perform their obligations under a sale and purchase agreement and certain equity commitment letters.”
The portfolio of 15 luxury hotels, which Anbang acquired via its acquisition of Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, includes
the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, JW Marriott Essex House in New York
Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Chinese insurance group bought the hotels for US$6.5 billion in March 2016 from US private equity firm Blackstone, according to news reports at the time.
The expansion unravelled when China jailed former chairman Wu Xiaohui for 18 years in May 2018 for fraud and embezzlement.
South China Morning Post