Shares of China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd, (CPIC), which
raised 30 billion yuan in initial public offering (IPO) earlier
this month, rose 70 percent in their market debut on Tuesday,
buoyed by the company's key position in the insurance industry.
Local-currency A shares of the CPIC opened at 51 yuan on Monday,
compared with their IPO price of 30 yuan.
All proceeds raised from the shares will be used to increase the
company's capital to boost its growth, said Tuesday's China
Securities Journal.
The newspaper said the company issued a total of 1 billion A
shares, with 300 million shares opened for institutional investors
and the remainder for online subscriptions from individual
investors.
Some investors interviewed by the newspaper said they would buy
shares when they were within 50 yuan, while some set the purchase
ceiling at 55 yuan.
Analysts considered prices beyond 55 yuan might bring risks and
put pressure on the entire stock market.
Founded in 1991, CPIC ranks third in China's life insurance
market, with a share of 9.5 percent and 185,000 sales employees
working in 3,270 sub-branches.
The insurer ranks second in the property insurance market, with
a share of 11.6 percent and a team of about 10,000 sales
representatives in 2,009 sub-branches.
It has become the third Chinese insurer to be listed on the
A-share market, joining China Life and China Ping An. CPIC will
issue no more than 900 million H-shares on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange after making its debut in Shanghai.
China International Capital Corp. and UBS Securities Co. are the
lead underwriters.
(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2007)
