When Chinese firm Anbang Insurance Group completed a deal to purchase Strategic Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio for $6.5 billion last month, there was one glaring omission.
It turns out only 15 of the 16 hotels in Strategic’s portfolio changed hands in the deal.
The sale of the 16th – the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego – was blocked by US officials on grounds of a potential national security risk, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Hotel del Coronado is one of the most valuable properties in the portfolio, with an estimated market value of up to $1 billion.
Bloomberg reported concerns were raised by the US Committee on Foreign Investment due to the hotel’s location on a peninsula that houses the US Naval Base Coronado.
The peninsular is also a training facility for Navy SEALs.
Anbang also purchased New York’s Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion in a deal that was eventually cleared by Committee on Foreign Investment.
However security fears over that deal persisted as the landmark hotel was then used by the US delegation for UN meetings in New York.
US diplomats including President Obama ultimately ended a decades-long association with the Waldorf Astoria due to the perceived risk of cyber-espionage.
