Anbang Insurance gets nod to buy Dutch insurer
Xinhua, July 23, 2015 Adjust font size:
Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group has won government approval to buy Dutch insurer Reaal NV.
The acquisition, made by Anbang Life Insurance Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Anbang Insurance, was approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) on Monday, the CIRC announced on Thursday.
Anbang would pay 150 million euros (about 165 million U.S. dollars) for Reaal NV, said SNS Reaal, a financial group that owns the Dutch insurer, in February.
It said Anbang would also inject between 770 million and 1 billion euros to recapitalize the insurer and pay off 552 million euros in internal loans to SNS Reaal.
Due to major losses by its real estate branch Property Finance, SNS Reaal was nationalized by the Netherlands in early 2013.
Anbang, founded in 2004, holds assets of 800 billion yuan (about 129 billion U.S. dollars).
It made headlines with the acquisition of Waldorf Astoria, the landmark hotel on Park Avenue, New York, last October. Anbang purchased the iconic luxury hotel for 1.95 billion U.S. dollars from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.
In the past three months, the Chinese firm has also won regulatory approvals to acquire two Belgian companies -- insurer Fidea NV and Delta Lloyd Bank NV. Endi