A strategic buyer should also be able to reap operating efficiencies or other benefits from putting two assets together — what deal makers call “synergies.” Think of the Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment to put the Marvel characters in Disney’s movies and theme parks. This sort of strategic rationale is what is driving Marriott’s bid.

The last time financial buyers regularly beat out strategic buyers was in the months before the financial crisis as the credit bubble drove a huge private equity feeding frenzy. In those days, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company could acquire First Data for $29 billion, borrowing more than the company was worth the day before the deal’s announcement.

Anbang also announced deals for the Waldorf Astoria in October 2014 for $1.95 billion, 717 Fifth Avenue in February 2015 for an estimated $500 million and Strategic Hotels & Resorts for $6.5 billion from Blackstone only two weeks ago. Blackstone bought the company for $500 million less only three months ago. It’s a nice deal for Blackstone, but one wonders why Anbang would pay so much more only a few months later.

So what gives with all the hotel acquisitions?

Anbang, which was founded in 2004, appears to be trying to build itself into a financial conglomerate along the lines of Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Like Berkshire, Anbang is using insurance reserves to buy assets in a variety of businesses such as banking and real estate. It also spent over $2 billion on insurers in Belgium and South Korea in 2015.

And Anbang is funding this spree by selling high-yield investment products to Chinese citizens.

If this type of company existed in the United States, there would be an outcry. It may be reasonable for an Internet company to appear out of nowhere and be a giant after 10 years, but an insurance company? And one that is buying noncore assets abundantly? We’ve seen this story many times before, and it typically doesn’t end well.