BEIJING, SHANGHAI • The Chinese government said yesterday that it had seized control of Anbang Insurance, the troubled Chinese company that owns the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York and other marquee properties around the world, and charged its former chairman with economic crimes..
BEIJING, SHANGHAI • The Chinese government said yesterday that it had seized control of Anbang Insurance, the troubled Chinese company that owns the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York and other marquee properties around the world, and charged its former chairman with economic crimes.
The move is Beijing’s biggest effort yet to rein in a new kind of Chinese company, in this case, one that spent billions of dollars around the world over the past three years buying up hotels and other high-profile properties.
The rise of these companies illustrates China’s growing economic might, but Chinese officials have grown increasingly concerned that they were piling up debt to make frivolous purchases.
In a statement posted on its website yesterday, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said the government was taking over to ensure the «normal and stable operation» of the company.
«Illegal operations at Anbang may have seriously endangered the company’s solvency, prompting the government to take control,» the statement read.
The move also caps the downfall of Anbang leader Wu Xiaohui. Mr Wu had married a granddaughter of Mr Deng Xiaoping, China’s paramount leader in the 1980s and a towering figure in Chinese politics, and was widely considered politically connected.
But he was detained in June, suggesting that any political sway he might have once held has ebbed.
Anbang had also come under scrutiny in the United States and elsewhere for its opaque ownership structure.
