Insurance Australia Group (IAG), the largest car and home insurer in Australia, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to buy 24.9 percent of China Pacific Property Insurance Company (CPIC Property).

 

The Sydney-based company may further lift its stake in CPIC Property, the second largest property insurer in China, to 40 percent subject to certain regulatory approvals, IAG said in a statement yesterday.

 

The MOU has been given the green light from the boards of IAG, CPIC Property and its parent, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd.

 

The price for Insurance Australia's stake will be determined after an audit undertaken using Hong Kong accounting principles, the statement said.

 

IAG may pay some US$250 million for a quarter of CPIC Property, people familiar with the plan said in April last year.

 

Michael Hawker, chief executive officer of IAG, has been in talks with Shanghai-based CPIC Property for more than a year.

 

The market reacted badly to the news; IAG's shares closed 1.3 percent lower in Sydney.

 

According to an analyst with China Securities, the lukewarm reaction shows investors' concern about a long-term investment in China versus a capital return to shareholders.

 

As a major non-life insurance player, CPIC Property has approximately 12 percent of China's property and casualty insurance business.

 

The company had 13.1 billion yuan (US$1.63 billion) of sales in the 10 months that ended on October 31, with almost 60 percent of that in the car sector.

 

"An investment in CPIC Property is in line with IAG's strategy to build a portfolio of insurance assets in Asia to supplement its businesses in its home markets of Australia and New Zealand," said the IAG statement.

 

IAG's Asia business currently covers Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and China; it has a wholly-owned roadside assistance company in Beijing, the China Automobile Association (CAA).

 

According to figures from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), China's insurers had premiums of 123 billion yuan (US$15.2 billion) from property and casualty insurance in 2005, as economic development encouraged people to buy insurance cover for their homes and businesses.

 

The country's property and casualty market has grown at a compound annual rate of more than 20 percent for the past three years.

 

International insurers may own 100 percent of property and casualty businesses. Some 34 operators are currently present in the Chinese market, 13 of which are branch offices of international groups.

 

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, the parent company of CPIC Property, sold 24.9 percent of its life insurance unit to US buyout firm the Carlyle Group and Prudential Financial Inc for US$400 million in December. And it plans to sell shares in an initial public offering (IPO) later this year or next.

 

The country's biggest property insurer, PICC Property & Casualty Co, sold a 10 percent stake to American International Group Inc, the world's biggest insurer, for US$254 million in 2003.

 

(China Daily February 8, 2006)