China Life and Ping An to Co-Invest in Tishman Speyer's Pier 4 Boston Waterfront Project

China's Two Largest Insurance Companies Making First-Ever Equity Investments in U.S. Real Estate

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Apr 08, 2015, 08:30 ET

NEW YORK, April 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Tishman Speyer, one of the world's leading developers, owners, operators and asset managers of first-class real estate, today announced that China Life Insurance (Group) Company (China Life) and Ping An Insurance Company of China (Ping An) will serve as co-investors in Tishman Speyer's prime waterfront site at Pier 4 in Boston's Seaport District. The Pier 4 project represents the first time that China Life and Ping An, China's two largest insurance companies, have made equity investments in U.S. real estate. It also is the first time they have co-invested in real estate outside of China.

China Life, through its subsidiary China Life Investment Holding Company Limited, and Ping An, through its real estate investment platform, Ping An Real Estate Company Limited, are investing alongside Tishman Speyer Real Estate Venture VIII.

Tishman Speyer, which acquired the development site in December 2014, will serve as general partner and manage the day-to-day development of the project.

"Tishman Speyer has been an active investor and developer in China for more than a decade," said Tishman Speyer Co-CEO Rob Speyer. "In that time, we have forged strong, productive relationships with both China Life and Ping An. We are really pleased that they have chosen to join us on this project."

"Tishman Speyer is inevitably one of the best partners for China Life's property investments in America. It is a good start for China Life, which will expand its real estate investing in America, and it will promote closer cooperation in our world," said China Life Investment Holding in a statement.

Ping An Real Estate said in a statement, "This is another step forward for us in developing a strong ongoing business relationship with Tishman Speyer. Ping An and Tishman Speyer have previously conducted business together in China and we are confident that they will be a very good partner for us in our first foray into the United States real estate market."

Tishman Speyer recently announced plans to build a 13-story, commercial building, primarily for office use consisting of approximately 373,000 rentable square feet; a nine-story, 100-unit luxury residential condominium building; and a three-level below-grade parking facility. Both buildings will include ground floor retail/restaurant space, and the site plan also includes a new one-acre public park. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015, with completion of both new buildings in 2018. Tishman Speyer, which develops and operates properties to meet high sustainability standards all over the world, expects to seek LEED gold certification for the project.

Located adjacent to Boston's Financial District, but formerly cut off from the rest of downtown by "Big Dig" construction, the Seaport District has become the epicenter of new development in the area. Its waterfront location, convenient access to transportation (rail, highway and airport) and existing yet growing amenity base are drawing commercial space users and residential buyers and renters in large numbers to form a vibrant 24/7 community.

For more information, please visit www.pier4boston.com.

About Tishman Speyer (www.tishmanspeyer.com)
Tishman Speyer is one of the leading developers, owners, operators, and asset managers of first-class real estate worldwide. Active across North America, Europe, South America and Asia, Tishman Speyer is relied upon by many of the world's most prestigious corporations to meet their office space needs. As of September 30, 2014, the firm had acquired, developed and/or managed a portfolio of approximately 133.3 million sq. ft. with a total value of approximately USD $69.7 billion since its founding in 1978. Signature assets include New York's Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Center, Sao Paulo's Torre Norte, Ventura Corporate Towers in Rio de Janeiro, and OpernTurm in Frankfurt. Tishman Speyer also has projects at different stages of development currently in Brasilia, Chengdu, Frankfurt, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Suzhou.

About Ping An (http://about.pingan.com/en/index.shtml)
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd ("Ping An") was established in 1988 in Shenzhen. Today it has developed into an integrated financial service conglomerate with three key business segments in insurance, banking, and investment. The Group's shares are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 2318) and on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (stock code: 601318). As at December 31, 2014, the Group's consolidated total assets and equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company reached RMB4.0 trillion and RMB289.6 billion, respectively. Both Ping An Life and Ping An Property & Casualty are ranked as the second largest insurance company in China by premium income, in their respective sector. Ping An was ranked No.62 in Forbes' Global 2000 league table in 2014, No.128 in U.S. Fortune Magazine's Global 500 Leading Companies ranking, and No.1 among China's non-State owned enterprises. On top of these accolades, Ping An was ranked No.77 in WPP Millward Brown's BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, being the 1st among all insurance brands worldwide, and it ranked 6th on the "Best Chinese Brand" ranking by Interbrand, the largest brand consultancy in the world, making it the top insurance brand in China.

Ping An Real Estate Company Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. As the real estate investment management arm of the Group, Ping An Real Estate primarily focuses on mixed-use development, industrial and logistic properties, and senior housing communities through private equity and debt investments in China and selected overseas markets.

About China Life (http://www.chinalife.com.cn/publish/yw/index.html)
China Life Insurance (Group) Company is one of the largest state-owned financial insurance institutions headquartered in Beijing. Its predecessor was the former People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) founded in 1949. In 1996, life insurance division was separated from PICC and was renamed as China Life Insurance Company in 1999. In 2003, approved by the State Council and China Insurance Regulatory Commission, the former China Life Insurance Company was restructured into China Life Insurance (Group) Company. It is one of the largest institutional investors in China's capital market. It has been listed for twelve consecutive years on the Fortune Global 500 list, and its rank moved forward drastically from 290 in 2003 to 98 in 2014. It has been listed for seven consecutive years among the World Brand 500 and ranked at 237th place in 2013. As China Life (Group) Company's subsidiary, China Life Insurance Company Limited was listed in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai with the largest market value among listed life insurance companies globally. China Life's premium income reached RMB 408.2 billion in 2014, the highest of the insurance industry in China. By the end of 2014, total assets of China Life reached RMB 2.7 trillion, accounting for 26% of total assets of the industry, which is ranked as the highest in the industry in China.