The Waldorf Astoria is pictured prior to the Anbang purchase. (Photo : Reuters)
After Chinese insurer and asset manager Anbang Insurance Group was unable to close its $2.7-billion November bid for a controlling stake of South Korea's Woori Bank, the large corporation awaits regulatory approval to seal its acquisition of another South Korean business entity, Tong Yang Life Insurance.
If Seoul and Beijing's officials open the door that confirms Anbang's venture, then the privately held firm will be assured at least a 57.5 percent stake in Tong Yang.
The Chinese company is in the media spotlight once again, after completing the purchase of New York's renowned hotel building, the Waldorf Astoria, for just under 2 billion dollars, and an acquisition of Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd NV's Belgian banking arm for nearly a quarter-billion euros.
This week's South Korean takeover news takes the cost of Anbang's shopping spree over the last quarter to $10 billion.
It should not surprise analysts and observers that such a bold display of top-tier purchasing power stems from a compatible corporate spirit. Although Anbang has clearly grown into a formidable business force on the world stage, its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, only spoke for the first time in a public U.S. setting in January, but his confidence was abundantly clear.
Wu informed the attendees at the Harvard University gathering: "In 10 years, Anbang will have companies on all the world's continents."
According to a statement from the South Korean subject of the latest Anbang acquisition, the eventual total of the Chinese firm's ownership will equal a 63-percent stake in Tong Yang, after sales are finalized with three separate investors.
Parties on both sides of the transactions will apply with regulators in both China and South Korea by the end of February, with a closing date expected in late May or June.
