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Ping An Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, China's second-largest life insurer, plans to issue up to 1.15 billion A shares in the Shanghai stock exchange next year to replenish its capital.

 

The company's board approved the domestic share offering proposal on Tuesday, Ping An said in a statement yesterday.

 

The share issue is still subject to the approval of shareholders and regulators.

 

The company did not give any price range in the statement. If calculated by the current price of its Hong Kong-listed shares, which closed 2.88 percent higher to HK$28.6 (US$3.67) yesterday, the A share issue will be worth US$4.22 billion.

 

Ping An said it will be issuing a further announcement as soon as possible on proposed benchmarks to be adopted as the basis for determining the issue price.

 

If a maximum of 1.15 billion A shares is issued, the new A shares will account for 15.7 percent of Ping An's total shares. H shares will be 34.8 percent.

 

The company said in yesterday's statement that the A share issue will establish a new financing platform for it and broaden its access to different securities markets.

 

Ping An, like three other Chinese insurers, is seeking to build an integrated financial services group.

 

"The A share issue will also enable the company to enhance the development of its operations and further improve its competitiveness," it said.

 

In August, Ping An posted a 83 percent jump in its first-half profits. Earnings for the first six months totalled 4.1 billion yuan (US$513 million), compared with 2.24 billion yuan (US$283 million) in the same period a year earlier.

 

China Life Insurance Co, the country's biggest life insurer and also listed in Hong Kong, announced a month ago that it plans to sell 1.5 billion A shares, raising US$2.6 billion in a share float in Shanghai.

 

The price of Ping An's Hong Kong shares has nearly doubled since the beginning of this year.

 

(China Daily September 28, 2006)