The federal government has this week approved the sale of one of one British Columbia’s largest retirement home chains to an insurance company based in Beijing, despite the company’s controversial ownership structure.
Officials announced on Tuesday that they had approved the sale of Vancouver-based Retirement Concepts – purportedly exceeding $1bn in value – to a company called Cedar Tree Investment Canada. Cedar Tree, however, is the company Chinese firm Anbang Insurance is using as a proxy to make the acquisition.
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Federal officials said their review of the purchase included an assessment whether the buyout would have any impact on national security.
“No issues were raised,” a spokeswoman for Innovation, Science and Economic Minister Navdeep Bains said.
In the US, Anbang was questioned by the authorities regarding the nature of its ownership and its ties to the Chinese government. The New York Times reported last year that a majority of the Chinese insurer – 92% – was held by firms either fully or partly owned by relatives of Anbang’s chairman.
Canadian officials, however, did not elaborate how they were able to define Anbang’s ownership and corporate structure.
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The Globe and Mail reported that Anbang’s acquisition of Retirement Concepts gives the insurer “an important role in the delivery of health care in British Columbia.” The retirement home brand is BC’s highest-billing provider of assisted living and residential care services, having been paid $86.5 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year by the provincial government. Additionally, the firm owns and operates about 24 retirement communities, most of them based in BC.
The Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) in BC said it warned both the federal and provincial governments about the buyout.
“Our primary concern around this [sale] is what in essence is a loss of control over a public asset that has been subsidized by taxpayers, by British Columbians,” said HEU secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside.
Whiteside explained that while Retirement Concepts is a private company, its business was built through contracts with publicly funded health authorities.
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