State-owned enterprises buy shares in biggest China reinsurer
Prudential Financial, China Life, Pansy Ho among investors
China Reinsurance Group Corp., the nation’s biggest reinsurer, will sell about half of its as much as $2 billion Hong Kong initial public offering to cornerstone investors.
U.S.-based Prudential Financial Inc., China Life Insurance Co. and Macau casino executive Pansy Ho are among 15 investors that will buy a combined $1.12 billion of shares in the offering, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg. China Re is selling 5.77 billion shares at HK$2.25 to HK$2.70 apiece, the terms show.
China Re drew investments from a group of mostly state-owned enterprises to help complete the IPO after a Hong Kong market rout that’s erased $1.3 trillion in value since April. China Re will add to the $20.7 billion raised through first-time share sales in the city this year, up from $17.8 billion in the same period in 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Bad-loan manager China Great Wall Asset Management Corp. and electricity distributor State Grid Corp. of China will each invest $150 million in China Re’s IPO, while power producers China General Nuclear Power Corp. and China Three Gorges Corp. will buy $100 million of stock apiece, the terms show. China Life agreed to purchase $50 million of shares, while Prudential will buy $30 million and Ho will invest $20 million.
China Re plans to price the offering Oct. 16 in New York and start trading Oct. 26, according to the terms. China International Capital Corp., HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG are joint sponsors of the IPO.
