China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd, (CPIC), one of the country's top insurers, published a prospectus on Friday for its scheduled Dec. 14 initial public offering (IPO).

CPIC said it would issue up to 1 billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. A road show runs from Dec. 7-11 in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

All proceeds from the IPO will be used to increase CPIC's capital to support growth, the prospectus said.

Founded in 1991, CPIC ranks third in China's life insurance market, with a share of 9.5 percent, and second in the property insurance market, with a share of 11.6 percent.

In 2005 and 2006, its life insurance premium income rose 4.6 percent and 4.5 percent year-on-year, respectively. Property insurance premium income rose 15.8 percent and 23.8 percent for those years.

CPIC will become the third Chinese insurer to be listed on the A-share market, after China Life and China Ping An.

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2007)