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The insurer has signed up 17 investors, including State Grid Corporation of China and insurance companies American International Group and Tokio Marine.
AIG has made the largest commitment with US$500m, while State Grid, China’s largest power grid operator, has pledged to buy shares totalling US$300m. Machinery maker SinoMach and fund manager Munsun AM have committed US$150m and US$140m, respectively.
The remaining investors are Sinosure (US$100m), China Life Insurance (US$100m), Yuexiu REIT (US$100m), China Reinsurance (US$70m), Spacechina (US$50m), China Southern (US$50m), French re-insurer Scor (US$50m), Tokio Marine (US$50m), Zrt (US$50m), Zijin Mining (US$50m), Pinpoint (US$40m), Russian Insurance (US$25m) and Fosun (US$20m).
Books will open for orders from institutional investors tomorrow. The deal is basically covered with demand from cornerstone and anchor investors, said a source.
PICC is offering 6.9bn primary shares, or 16.7% of the enlarged capital, at an indicative price range of HK$3.42–$4.03 (Rmb2.78–Rmb3.28) per share, aiming to raise HK$23.6bn–$27.8bn (US$3.05bn–$3.6bn)
The price range represents a pre-money valuation of Rmb96bn–Rmb113.2bn, a big discount to the insurer’s own valuation target of not lower than Rmb130bn.
Pricing is slated for November 29.
CICC, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and HSBC are joint sponsors for the deal, and joint global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner with Deutsche Bank.
Other joint bookrunners include ABC International, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BOC International, CCB International, Daiwa, Essence Securities, ICBC International and JP Morgan.
(Updates to add AIG to list of investors.)