Chinese companies are on their way to capture the global hotel investment market

Since 2012, China has become the largest source market of outbound tourists for a number of European destinations. In the wake of this rapid growth of Chinese tourist numbers, a significant number of prominent China-based investors have begun to show interest in acquiring European hotels.

A well-known Madrid landmark, the Edificio España was acquired by Chinese real estate company Dalian Wanda for close to €400 million after having been left unoccupied for a number of years in 2014. Wang Jianlian, the owner of Dalian Wanda Group and the second wealthiest man in China, plans to convert the building into a complex replete with a luxury hotel and shopping mall, as well as more than 300 homes. Before its entry into the Spanish market, Dalian Wanda had already undertaken $1 billion USD hotel development projects in both London and New York, as well as property projects in India.

Another Chinese investor, Anbang Insurance Group, snapped up the famous luxury hotel Waldorf Astoria New York in 2014 for nearly 2 billion dollar, a new record in the hotel industry. In 2015, Chinese Jin Jiang International Holdings successfully acquired French Groupe Du Louvre with its over 1,100 hotels in Europe, in a deal valued at 1,5 billion dollars – the highest price ever in the European hotel industry.

The trend of the big Chinese investors entering the global hotel investment market leads to conspicuous attention and enormous interests in Europe, especially among the German investors.  In 2015, several events with a specific focus on the topic “Chinese hotel investors” have taken place in Germany, for instance the Hospitality Inside Forum in Munich.

Source: China Contact February 2016, Forbes

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