Chinese insurer to acquire US hotel for over $ 230 million

BEIJING: A Chinese insurer has agreed to buy New York's luxurious Baccarat Hotel for a whopping $ 230 million, setting a record for the most expensive hotel deal on a per-room basis at over $ two million.

Beijing-based Sunshine Insurance Group will pay real- estate mogul Barry Sternlicht's firm more than $ two million a room for the the 114-room mid-town Manhattan property, state-run China Radio International reported today.

The valuation is more than the Plaza Hotel, which was sold to India's Sahara Group in 2012 for just over $ two million a room, it said.

It is expected that Chinese companies will spend more than $ five billion on hotel investments abroad this year.

Chinese companies spent $ 920 million last year, it said.

The opulent hotel will open its doors next month. Sunshine Insurance Group was founded in 2005 and has since expanded to include departments on asset management and life insurance. The firm agreed to acquire a Sheraton hotel in Sydney, Australia, for $ 380 million in November