China's Fosun may bid for London's Grosvenor House hotel

Fosun International, controlled by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, is reportedly mulling a bid for London's Grosvenor House hotel.

The hotel, which has 420 rooms, is managed by Marriott International.

Fosun has not made a final decision about whether to proceed with a fresh offer, after bidding about £400m (€554m, $607m) for the property last year, and no deal may occur, Bloomberg reported.

Pursued by the news agency, Fosun refused to comment.

Thomas Cook deal

Earlier in the day, Fosun said it had acquired a 5% stake in British travel group Thomas Cook for £91.8m.

Fosun made the purchase through subsidiary Fidelidade-Companhia de Seguros, the largest insurance firm in Portugal.

Asking price

Deloitte, the administrator for Grosvenor House's owner, is seeking about £500m for the property, the news agency reported on 3 March.

Deloitte was appointed this week to sell the Grosvenor after owner Sahara India Pariwar, the troubled Indian financial services firm controlled by jailed businessman Subrata Roy, defaulted on Bank of China loans for the London property, New York's Plaza Hotel and the Dream Hotel in downtown Manhattan.

Roy, 66, held at New Delhi's Tihar jail for almost 12 months in a protracted dispute over refunding billions of dollars to Indians who had invested in outlawed bonds.

Property shopping

Shanghai-based Fosun is keen on building a real estate portfolio outside its home market to secure steady long-term returns.

Last August, Fosun bought the Citigroup Center office building in Tokyo, after purchasing New York's One Chase Manhattan Plaza for $750m in 2013.

Guo, whose firm also controls stakes in Greek jewellery maker Folli Follie and Italian suitmaker Raffaele Caruso, has a net worth of $5.3bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.