Published on : Wednesday, September 11, 2019
A Chinese insurer has agreed to sell a luxury hotel portfolio for more than $5.8 billion, overcoming an unusual stumbling block: A California individual secretly created a series of fake deeds to transfer ownership for up to a half dozen of the hotels.
Mirae Asset Global Investments, part of a South Korean financial services company, agreed this week to buy the 15-hotel portfolio from Anbang Insurance Group Co., people familiar with the matter said. Mirae prevailed in a process that began early this year and attracted widespread interest from private-equity and government-run funds, these people said.
The two sides were on the verge of a deal last month, but a more formal agreement was held up when Anbang discovered the fraudulent deed transactions while performing a routine title search, according to people familiar with the matter. The search indicated that ownership of at least four California hotels had been transferred to limited liability companies.
One deed showed a transfer of ownership for Anbang’s Montage Laguna Beach hotel, a luxury coastal resort in Southern California, to a company known as Andy Bang LLC, according to California property records.
The seller on the deed was listed only as Shr Holding Group LLC, records show.
San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis, the Loews Santa Monica and the Four Seasons Silicon Valley in East Palo Alto were also transferred to limited liability companies, though no sales prices were recorded, according to property records.
Deeds for the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Half Moon Bay and in Laguna Niguel were also faked, said people familiar with the matter. These fraudulent transfers occurred without Anbang’s knowledge or approval, said people familiar with the matter.
Representatives for Anbang and Mirae declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal couldn’t confirm the identity of the individual or how this person expected to profit from the illegal ownership transfers.