Chinese insurance group Anbang is close to sealing a deal to buy Japanese property assets worth $2.3 billion from Blackstone, reports have said.
The residential property deal, if it gets through, will be Japan's biggest property deal since the global financial crisis.
The properties that Blackstone has agreed to sell to Anbang are mainly apartment buildings aimed at middle-class residents in cities like Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, Reuters reported, citing sources who declined to be identified.
The Chinese insurance giant has been in news recently after lapping up high value assets in the US. The talks are in an advanced stage, the agency reported, but comments by Blackstone and Anbang were not immediately available.
The deal will open the door for the Chinese giant into Japanese real estate after it lost out to Japanese developer Hulic Co in the bidding war for Simplex Investment last year.
The last biggest property deal in Japan prior to this was the 281 billion yen deal in 2007 in which Morgan Stanley bought 13 hotels from ANA Holdings.
Anbang has been on a shopping spree, armed with a $254 billion war chest. The Insurance giant said in April it was acquiring top dollar hotel property in the United States -- Strategic Hotels & Resorts -- for $6.5 billion.
Anbang completed in 2015 the purchase of New York's storied Waldorf Astoria hotel from Hilton Worldwide Holdings for $1.95 billion. Privately held Anbang had bought last year US annuities and life insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life for $1.57 billion.
Anbang was founded in 2004 with capital of $60 million. Its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, is married to the grand-daughter of Deng Xiaoping.
