REAL ESTATE

Japanese Investors Buy Arizona Biltmore: Japan’s Aoki Corp. quietly closed a deal to take over the 503-room Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. It was sold for an undisclosed price by Equitable Life Assurance Society to a joint venture of Aoki and Grossman Co. Properties. The ornate hotel, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, has served tycoons and royalty during its 63-year existence. The Biltmore is the latest in a list of high-profile real estate acquisitions by Japanese investors in the United States. Equitable, long a formidable leader among mutually held insurance and financial services concerns, has recently found itself in need of capital. Aoki, by contrast, has grown from a Japanese construction firm to a multinational conglomerate and has set its sights on choice properties around the world.