Ping an buys Tower Place in London

Ping An Life Insurance (Group) Co of China Ltd has acquired another landmark site in London, after it bought the Lloyds of London building a year and half ago, highlighting Chinese insurers' growing appetite for trophy real estate in international gateway cities after the sector was given freedom to invest overseas since 2012.

The second-largest insurer in China has bought Tower Place in the City of London for 327 million pounds ($491 million), the seller, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, said on Thursday night. Ping An did not respond to calls for comment on Friday.

Tower Place was designed by renowned architect Norman Foster and is in the heart of London's insurance district. The anchor tenant of the low-rise office and shopping complex is the United States-based insurance consultancy Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc, according to a statement by Gaw Capital Partners, the Hong-Kong-based private-equity firm that advised Ping An on the deal.