LONDON â€" The Ping An Insurance Group of China agreed Monday to buy the headquarters building of the insurance giant Lloyd’s of London, a landmark in the city’s financial district, for $388 million.
Ping An, one of China’s largest life insurance companies, will buy the building, designed by the star architect Richard Rogers, from a fund managed by the German lender Commerzbank for 260 million pounds. The fund paid 231 million pounds for the property in 2005.
The purchase represents the growing appetite by Chinese buyers of commercial and residential real estate abroad. Zhang Xin, a Chinese business magnate, teamed up with the Safra family of Brazil to buy a large piece of the General Motors Building in Midtown Manhattan last month. Chinese investors or firms also bought large hotels, including the Sheraton Universal in Universal City.
The Lloyd’s building is the first purchase by a Chinese insurance company overseas, according to Jon Crossfield, a director at Savills, the real estate agency that helped manage the sale. Lloyd’s has a contract to lease the building until 2031.
“The current liquidity and investor demand within the London market presented an ideal time for us to seek an exit in line with our original business plan,†Roland Holschuh, a member of the Commerzbank’s fund, said in a statement.
Humbert Pang, head of China at Gaw Capital Partners, which advised Ping An on the deal, said opportunities to assist Chinese institutional investors interested in building a portfolio overseas were increasing.
