Insurance companies in China are expected to raise their allocations for global property investments in the coming years, boosted by the rapid development of the country's insurance sector.

According to international real estate service provider Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Chinese insurance groups are expected to allocate up to US$240 billion for real estate deals overseas in the coming years.

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The amount may be huge but it still represents a small fraction of the Chinese insurers' investment portfolio. According to JLL, property holdings only account for 1 percent of Chinese insurers' portfolio.

Insurance companies in the United States and Europe have allocation targets of 5 percent to 15 percent, JLL said in a report.

In the coming years, Chinese insurers that are looking for more returns opportunities are expected to expand abroad by setting up subsidiary companies, buying properties around the world, or purchasing international insurance companies.

Recently, China's Anbang Insurance Group, one of the country's major insurers, has acquired a portfolio of hotels and resorts in the United States for a whooping US$6.5 billion from New York private equity firm BlackRock.

The portfolio includes the Four Seasons resorts in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay and Laguna Niguel, California; San Diego's Hotel del Coronado; and Manhattan's JW Marriott Essex House.

Last year, Anbang acquired the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York for US$1.95 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

In China, China Life is expanding its presence abroad by launching a subsidiary in Malaysia this year. The Malaysia expansion will serve as a stepping stone for China's largest life insurer to further expand in the Southeast Asian regions and then the rest of the world, according to Yang Chao, former chairman of China Life.

In 2013, China Life received approval for its first international venture, a China Life subsidiary in Singapore with registered capital of US$100 million.

TagsChina Insurance, Anbang, China investment, China Life Insurance