China’s insurance regulator said on Friday it will take control of Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group and that the company’s chairman will be prosecuted for alleged economic crimes.
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission said it will take control of the insurance group - which gained international prominence with its $2bn purchase of New York’s Waldorf Astoria and a $6.5bn hotel portfolio purchased from Blackstone Group - for a year from February 23,and that the takeover would not change the company’s external liabilities, according to a notice issued on its website on Friday.
Anbang’s chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was detained in June and the company’s life insurance unit was banned in May from selling new products for three months.