Investment | Pansy Ho among 15 buying half of China Reinsurance through IPO

China Reinsurance Group Corp., the nation’s biggest reinsurer, is planning to sell around half of its almost USD2 billion HK initial public offering to cornerstone investors. Macau casino executive Pansy Ho, U.S.-based Prudential Financial and China Life Insurance are among 15 investors that have offered to buy a combined USD1.12 billion worth of shares in the offering, according to the terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg.
China Re is selling 5.77 billion shares at between HKD2.25 and HKD2.70 apiece, the terms show.
China Re drew investments from a group of mostly state-owned enterprises to help complete the IPO. This comes after a Hong Kong market rout that has erased USD1.3 trillion in value since April. China Re will add to the $20.7 billion raised through its first time selling shares this year, up from $17.8 billion in the same period in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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 worth of shares, while Prudential will buy $30 million and Ho $20 million.
China Re plans to price the offering on October 16 in New York and start trading on October 26, according to the terms. China International Capital Corp., HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG are joint sponsors of the IPO. MDT/Bloomberg