Another bid from China for US hotel; $6.5b for Hilton

HNA Group is snapping up a 25 percent ownership stake of the Hilton hotel chain for about $6.5 billion, the latest attempt by a Chinese interest to acquire real estate in the US.

HNA will appoint two directors to Hilton’s board, expanding it to 10 members, and will have partial ownership of Hilton’s planned spinoffs of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations, expected to conclude by the end of the year.

With real estate investors looking to cash out of a red hot market over the last several years, Chinese interests have stepped in, seeking a safe place to keep cash.

Anbang Insurance Group bought the flagship Waldorf Astoria in New York two years ago from Hilton. It tried unsuccessfully to acquire Starwood Hotels in a $14 billion deal.

Late last year, the Starwood Capital Group sold the 50-story Baccarat Hotel, just north of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, to the Sunshine Insurance Group of China.

Last week China Life Insurance Co., the country’s biggest life insurance company, took an approximately $2 billion stake in US hotels owned by Starwood. (AP)