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Chinese insurance juggernaut Ping An is warming up for a blockbuster IPO in Hong Kong, writes Bloomberg:
Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., China’s largest insurer by market value, is gearing up for an initial public offering of its OneConnect unit that could value the financial management portal at about $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ping An is now targeting to list OneConnect in Hong Kong as soon as the second half of this year, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The share sale could raise roughly $1 billion, according to the people.
The insurance company apparently planned to raise as much as $3 billion last year. It hired Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, CCB International Holdings, and Ping An Securities to handle the listing, but a volatile market forced them to lower expectations and put the offering on the back burner. Current plans are still at an early stage, with valuations and fundraising size still up to debate, but the spinoff and IPO will surely be one of Hong Kong’s most high-profile ones this year.
OneConnect, as per its website, is a fintech SaaS company which provides AI, blockchain, cloud, and biometrics solutions to small-and medium-sized financial institutions. It boasts “101 products in four business disciplines including Digital Banking Solutions, Digital Insurance Solutions, Digital Investment Solutions, and SaaS Cloud Platform, covering sales, product development, risk management, operations and technology.”
Photo: Alan Lam