A woman looks at property details in front of a real estate agency on July 10, 2009, in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo : Getty Images)
China's Anbang Insurance Group is reportedly in talks to acquire Japanese residential property assets worth $2.3 billion from Blackstone Group, a move which could be Japan's biggest property deal since the global financial crisis.
The U.S.-based Blackstone is discussing the sale of the properties it has purchased from investors, including a deal with General Electric Co in 2014, according to Reuters citing insider sources.
The talks are in an advanced stage, one of the sources said.
Both Blackstone and Anband officials declined to comment, according to Reuters.
If successful, the deal could fetch 260 billion yen, the sources said, making it Japan's biggest property transaction since a fund managed by Morgan Stanley purchased 13 hotels from ANA Holdings Inc for 281 billion yen during the height of the property investment boom of 2007.
Japan's property sector has rebounded since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assumed office in late 2012 and introduced liberal money policies that have driven down interest rates and boosted asset prices in a bid to pull Japan out of decades of deflation.
The assets Blackstone is reportedly selling are apartment buildings aimed at middle-class residents. They include properties in Japan's major cities, including Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, which Blackstone acquired in 2014 from GE's property unit for 190 billion yen. The U.S. asset management firm bought some residential assets from other investors that were also part of the deal.
It is not immediately clear how much of a return on its investment Blackstone may make through the deal with Anbang, Reuters reported.
The deal is the first foray in Japanese real estate for Anbang, which has been striving to diversify its assets globally. The privately owned firm earlier lost out to Japanese developer Hulic Co in 2013 in bidding for property asset manager Simplex Investment.
In March, the company agreed to buy Strategic Hotels & Resorts from Blackstone for $6.5 billion to expand its U.S. hotels portfolio. In the same month, it dropped a bid worth $14 billion for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Anbang also owns New York's famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
