Great Leap Upward: Behind China's $100 Billion Shopping Spree

China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co., which has twice sweetened its offer to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., is engaged in a high-stakes bidding war with Marriott International Inc. to acquire the owner of the upscale Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis brands.

Win or lose, the latest $14 billion bid unveiled Monday by an Anbang-led investor group makes this much clear: Chinese companies have launched an unprecedented buying spree, one far more ambitious than previous efforts focused primarily on locking up supplies of global commodities and raw materials. Now, cash-rich Chinese buyers, often backed by generous lending from state banks, are trying to diversify into everything from lodging, cranes and pesticides to semiconductors, flat-screen TVs and Hollywood studios in a quest to expand into new global markets and key technologies.