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2 Trust Firms Oked to Quit Taikang Life

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[2012-02-17] 浏览量：

Beijing International Trust Co., Ltd. and China Credit Trust Co., Ltd. have gained approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) to quit Taikang Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

According to a statement the top Chinese insurance regulator unveiled on February 14, Beijing International Trust has gained approval to sell 33.26 million and 30 million shares of the insurer to China Guardian Auctions Co., Ltd. and Yingge Xingye (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. each and China Credit Trust has won a nod to sell 50 million shares of the insurer to Erfu (Beijing) Investment Co., Ltd. And after the deals, Guardian Auctions will see stake in the insurer rise to 18.9 percent, becoming the biggest shareholder of the latter, and Erfu (Beijing) Investment and Yingge Xingye (Beijing) Technology each will control a 5.87 percent and 3.52 percent stake in the insurer. Beijing International Trust and China Credit Trust will have no stake in the insurer.

A top executive with Taikang Life said in an interview that they were normal stake sales and how many shares the two trust firms each sold this time were nailed down by themselves.

Available statistics show that the insurer has experienced two batches of stake sales since last year and in March 2011, France-based AXA Group gained approval to sell 8.4 million, 22.17 million, and 102 million shares of it to Guardian Auctions, Tetrad Ventures Pte Ltd. and Goldman Sachs, each. And through the deals, it quit the Chinese company thoroughly.

Actually, a total of three trust firms each controlled an over five percent stake in Taikang Life and they included Beijing International Trust, China Credit Trust and CITIC Trust Co., Ltd. CITIC Trust, a unit of CITIC Group, currently acts as the fourth-biggest shareholder of the insurer. Thus it has become a focal point why CITIC Trust does not quit it. Chen Dongsheng, chairman of the insurer, said publicly last year that it would debut on both the Hong Kong bourse and the Shanghai bourse within three years. Thus some industry observers believed that quit of the two trust firms should have a close tie with its IPO process. However, the thought was denied by people in the know and in line with him, the quit is closely related to rules the CIRC released on the management of shares of insurers in 2010. And according to the rules, any companies or individuals are banned to hold a stake in an insurer on the behalf of others. In addition, shareholders of an insurer should have a clear shareholding structure and a sustainable investment ability.