Starwood Capital Sells $2 Billion Stake in Hotels to China Life Insurance

   By Matt Jarzemsky

Private investment firm Starwood Capital Group said Tuesday it sold a roughly $2 billion stake in its U.S. hotels to a group led by China's largest insurance company, China Life Insurance Co Ltd.

Starwood said China Life would serve as the lead investor to a group, which includes sovereign wealth funds, in the portfolio comprising 280 hotels in 40 states.

"We are honored to have been given the opportunity to serve as stewards of China Life's capital, and thrilled to embark on a partnership that represents a first-of-its-kind relationship for our firm," said Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood. "With this select-service hotel portfolio, China Life has an efficient vehicle for investing in the United States economy as a whole."

Chinese insurers have shown greater appetite for U.S. real-estate assets lately. Starwood Capital last year reached a deal to sell the posh Baccarat Hotel in Manhattan to China's Sunshine Insurance Group.

Anbang Insurance Group Co. paid nearly $2 billion for the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan and bid $14 billion for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which Marriott International Inc. ultimately bought after Anbang walked away from the deal.

"I would almost call it a new source of capital," Mr. Sternlicht said. Over the years, the U.S. real-estate market has "seen Middle Eastern investors, we've seen European investors, we saw the arrival and withdrawal of the Russians. I think the arrival of the Chinese life companies is something new."

"They're looking for diversification, and it might extend the real-estate cycle," he said.

--- Ezequiel Minaya contributed to this article

Write to Matt Jarzemsky at MATTHEW.JARZEMSKY@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2016 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)

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