China Life invests in Starwood hotels

Starwood Capital Group sold a stake valued at about $2 billion in US hotels to China Life Insurance Co, extending a streak of Chinese investment in overseas lodging properties and travel-related businesses.

China Life, the country’s largest life-insurance company, will be the lead investor in the properties, with sovereign-wealth funds and others also owning a piece of the 280 select-service hotels in 40 US states, Starwood said in a statement on Tuesday.

The whole portfolio is valued at more than $3 billion, according to Starwood. The Greenwich, Connecticut-based firm, which last year sold New York’s luxury Baccarat hotel to another Chinese insurer, will continue to be the asset manager.

Chinese investors have been buying hotel and travel businesses around the world as outbound tourism surges and China’s economy and wealth expands.