Beijing-based Sunshine Insurance Group paid $463m for the Sheraton on the Park hotel in November and this week snapped up New York’s six-star Baccarat Hotel, which is yet to accommodate a single customer.

Sunshine, which is China’s seventh-largest insurer and has which has 20 million mainland customers, paid $296m for the mid-town Manhattan property.

On its journey into the Hunter Valley, Sunshine Insurance acquired the 100-suite Chateau Elan Hotel and The Vintage Golf Club, replete with a Greg Norman-designed 18-hole championship golf course, 17-room spa facility and several hectares of ­developable land.

Sunshine plans to build a 300-room hotel on the Hunter Valley site and a second championship golf course. It also plans to upgrade the existing Greg Norman course. “The Sunshine Insurance Group believes Australia is a very secure and unique investment platform, not only for its geographical location but also for the types of businesses Australia has to offer with potential growth,” said Chateau Elan Hotel general manager Joseph Spagnolo in a statement to The Australian yesterday.

“We believe that the Australian tourism sector will continue to strengthen long-term and that Australia will require significant capital investment moving forward, especially in regional areas.” Mr Spagnolo said the Chinese corporations investing in Australian real estate would improve facilities and attract more tourists to the Hunter Valley.

The Chateau Elan Hotel in the Hunter Valley Rothbury area was developed by billionaire Don Panoz, the former Ohio pharmacist who invented the nicotine patch. Mr Panoz put the hotel and golf course on the market last year. The parcel included 7ha of undeveloped land.

After making his fortune inventing the nicotine patch Mr Panoz invested in golf and winery resorts. The co-owner of the ­resort, John Stevens, of Stevens Property Group, is understood to be retaining some of the resort’s land holdings.

Sunshine chairman Wei Gong Zhang told The Australian he wanted a global spread of assets and would continue buying property in Australia, the US and Europe. The insurer was also interested in buying medical and agricultural assets in Australia.

Sunshine also committed to a $40m upgrade of the Sheraton on the Park Hotel as part of its deal to acquire the hotel from Starwood.

Starwood retains a long-running management agreement over the property while Sunshine Insurance has until 2018 to complete the overhaul of the popular Elizabeth Street property.