PICC Group, a Chinese non-life insurance giant, is discussing whether to acquire or buy a stake in several Southeast Asian insurers.
The Vice President of the company, Mr Xie Yiqun, saying that he expects a couple of deals to occur by the end of this year, with a few more to come in the next two or three years.
The overseas push by PICC Group is in line with Chinas Belt and Road initiative, which is directed at building a modern day ‘Silk Road’ connecting China by land and sea to Southeast, South and Central Asia and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Mr Xie said “Insurance regulations vary from country to country,”
We have a map (of target markets). Our progress in each country varies as each has a different level of openness.”
Thomas Reuters data has shown that Chinese outbound deals are declining due to the increased scrutiny by Bejing. However, the M&A deals by Chinese companies in Belt and Road countries have increased dramatically with investment for 2017 hitting $33bn by mid-August.
Executives for the insurer also said it was using Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect schemes as a new channel for investment and had spent CNY8bn (US$1.2bn) to CNY10bnn on that in the first half of this year.
