PEOPLE’S Insurance Group of China (PICC), which owns the nation’s biggest non-life insurer, is planning to raise more than US$1.6 billion through a Shanghai IPO in a long-delayed plan that will be the biggest mainland listing so far in 2018. PICC plans to issue up to 4.6 billion A shares in a Shanghai initial public offering (IPO) that will raise over 10 billion yuan (US$1.59 billion) to replenish capital, the insurer said late Monday in a notice to the Hong Kong stock exchange. A PICC listing on the mainland would come more than four years after the company went public in a US$3.1 billion offering in Hong Kong. PICC is the parent of PICC Property and Casualty Co. PICC will become the fifth Chinese insurer to be listed in both Hong Kong and a mainland stock exchange, joining the ranks of China Life Insurance Co., Ping An Insurance Group of China, China Pacific Insurance Group and New China Life Insurance Co. The five companies are the largest insurers in the country. PICC has been planning a mainland listing for a number of years, according to sources familiar with the group’s strategy. However, changes in the mainland’s listing rules and temporary suspensions of IPOs after turbulence in mainland stock market had delayed the plan. The deal will be underwritten by China International Capital Corp., Essence Securities, CITIC Securities Co. and Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, according to the prospectus posted by China’s securities regulator.(SD-Agencies) |