Zhong An Online Property and Casualty Insurance, the first online-only Chinese insurer, could undergo listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as July or August this year and raise up to US$2 billion, according to media reports.
If the initial public offering goes through, Zhong An will become the first online insurer listed in Hong Kong. Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, and UBS were tapped as advisers for the IPO.
Zhong An is looking to sell 5% to 10% of its shares to several strategic insurers before the official IPO, Reuters reported earlier.
Some of Zhong An’s major shareholders include Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Financial, which owns 16%, followed by Tencent,
Ping An Insurance, and China International Capital Corp (Hong Kong). The insurer, headquartered in Shanghai, was founded in 2013 by Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, Tencent chairman Pony Ma Hua-teng, and
Ping An Insurance chairman Ma Mingzhe.
After a Series A funding round in June 2015, Zhong An was valued at RMB50 billion (US$7.3 billion).
Zhong An initially planned to get listed In Hong Kong last year, but it changed its mind and looked at a mainland China IPO instead. However, the highly-valued online insurer has seemingly abandoned that plan, and looks to push through with its original course of action.
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