SHANGHAI: Richard Faber, a former lieutenant to the United Kingdom’s billionaire Barclay twins, is fronting an investor group that’s competing for a luxury hotel portfolio owned by Anbang Insurance Group Co, sources said.
A consortium backed by the British investor’s Spartan Advisors Ltd is among bidders that were shortlisted to make binding offers for the collection of 15 properties, according to the sources. Spartan has been seeking financing from sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals to back the offer, a source said.Anbang bought the properties’ owner, Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc, from Blackstone Group LP for about US$5.5bil in 2016. The deal was part of a buying binge that made Anbang synonymous with China’s unbridled appetite for international trophy assets. The spree ended when Chinese authorities seized control of Anbang and later sentenced chairman Wu Xiaohui to 18 years in prison.
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