Waldorf's Chinese owner Anbang to buy Strategic Hotels for $6.5 bn

China's Anbang Insurance Group, owner of New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria, is buying Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc from private equity firm Blackstone Group, for around $6.5 billion, according to several media reports.

The deal comes just four months after Blackstone Group acquired Strategic Hotels from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc for $3.93 billion, or about $6 billion, including debt and completed the deal last December.

The deal also comes 16 months after Anbang Insurance acquired the 1,413 room Waldorf Astoria from Hilton Worldwide Holdings for a record $1.95 billion.

Strategic owns 16 luxury and ultra-luxury hotels and resorts with 7,532 rooms across the US, including the Four Seasons resorts in Arizona, Jackson Hole in Wyoming, Ritz-Carltons in Half Moon Bay, Laguna Niguel in California, Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and  JW Marriott Essex House in Manhattan.

Its properties are managed by international hotel management companies, including Fairmont, Four Seasons, InterContinental, KSL Resorts, Loews, Marriott, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton and Westin.

Anbang Insurance is one of the largest insurance groups in China with assets of around $250 billion. It has over 3,000 branches in 31 provinces around China, more than 35 million clients, and employs over 30,000 globally.

The Beijing-based insurer has recently made a push into buying overseas assets and made some high profile acquisitions, especially in Europe and North America.

Apart from the Waldorf Astoria, it has acquired Des Moines, Iowa-based Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Co for $1.6 billion, Dutch life insurer VIVAT for $1.5 billion, Belgian insurer Fidea NV, Belgian banking operations of Delta Lloyd NV, a majority stake in South Korea's Tong Yang Life Insurance Co.