After just becoming the largest owner of real estate in the world, the Blackstone Group has agreed to sell its 16 luxury properties, including the iconic Hotel de Coronado to Chinese-based Anbang Insurance Group.
The 128-year old Hotel del Coronado was the largest resort hotel in the world when it opened in 1888. It has been featured in numerous movies and continues to host royalty, presidents, and celebrities. It is currently part of a collection named Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc.
Since the Manhattan-based private equity Blackstone Group went public in 2007, the organization has expanded its real estate portfolio from $17.7 billion to over $100 billion worth of property, and produced an 18 percent after-fees compound return.
The sale came as a shock to most Wall Street analysts, since CEO Steve Schwarzman recently told the Business Insider about the company’s real estate investments: “We’ve had almost no losses of any type.”
Given that Blackstone Group just bought Strategic Hotels & Resorts in December for $3.93 billion, the private equity firm appears positioned to keep its winning record by booking a $2.57 billion short-term windfall profit on the deal.
The 16 properties include 7 in California, including the Loews Santa Monica Beach, the Montage Laguna Beach, the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto, and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.
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