Trump in-laws, Chinese company near $400 million agreement
A New York real estate company owned by the family of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law is negotiating to sell a $400 million stake in its Fifth Avenue flagship skyscraper to a Chinese insurance company with ties to leading families of the Communist Party.
The Chinese company, Anbang Insurance Group, would pay to get a highprofile piece of Manhattan real estate and would commit to spending billions more to completely transform the 60-year-old tower into a chic condominium and retail citadel.
If signed, the potential agreement would create a financial marriage of two politically powerful families in the world’s two biggest economies, but it would also present the possibility of glaring conflicts of interest. The Kushner family, owners of the tower, would reap a financial windfall courtesy of a Chinese company, even as Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to Trump as well as his son-in-law, helps oversee U.S. foreign policy.
News of the negotiations surfaced as Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, were preparing for their first meeting, to be held next month.
Kushner has emerged as a moderating voice in China policy among Trump’s inner circle, and he has been heavily involved in planning for the visit.
Asked about a deal at a news conference Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer referred questions back to the Kushner Companies. “Jared went through extraordinary lengths” to comply with conflict-of-interest rules, he said.
A spokesman for Anbang said there was no agreement and that “there is no investment from Anbang for this deal.”
In his presentation to prospective investors, Charles Kushner, the leader of the family company and Jared’s father, has said that once renovated, the property would be worth more than $7 billion, according to a real estate broker and two investors who have heard the pitch and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they want to do further business with the companies. That would make it the most valuable property in Manhattan.
The chairman of Anbang, Wu Xiaohui, who wined and dined Jared Kushner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in November, serving $2,100-a-bottle Château Lafite Rothschild, married the granddaughter of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who transformed China’s economy. Wu also counts the son of a top army marshal as a longtime business partner.
The Waldorf Astoria is one of a string of trophy properties that Anbang has bought in the United States in recent years.
The deal would value the 41-story aluminum clad office tower at $2.8 billion, a high value for a building that has never been considered a trophy.