People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China has secured a total of at least US$1.72bn from 16 cornerstone investors for its proposed Hong Kong IPO of up to US$3.6bn, according to a regulatory filing.
The list of cornerstone investors in a preliminary prospectus filed on the HKEx website differs slightly from an earlier version seen by IFR. Sources said the final lineup of cornerstone buyers may change again before the final prospectus is published next week.
Japanese insurer Tokio Marine, which was heard yesterday to have pledged to buy US$50m of PICC shares, is not included in the latest list. The investor has signed an agreement, but needs to seek SEHK approval for the purchase, according to one source.
China National Machinery Industry Corp, which sources said had earlier committed to buy US$150m of the IPO shares, has now pledged to buy US$75m of stock, according to the filing.
AIG, which committed to the biggest purchase of US$500m in PICC’s shares on offer, announced that it had entered a non-binding agreement to establish a joint venture with PICC, one of China’s largest insurers. AIG has agreed not to dispose of more than 25% of the IPO shares without PICC’s prior consent for five years, assuming that the JV agreement is executed by May 31 2013. If the two parties have not signed a JV agreement by that date, AIG will be free to sell all of its shares after the end of the customary six-month lock-up period.
PICC launched a roadshow today for the IPO of 6.9bn primary shares, or 16.7% of its enlarged capital, at an indicative price range of HK$3.42–$4.03 (Rmb2.78–Rmb3.28), to raise HK$23.6bn–$27.8bn (US$3.05bn–$3.6bn). Pricing is slated for November 29.
CICC, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and HSBC are joint sponsors of the IPO, as well as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners with Deutsche Bank. Other joint bookrunners are ABC International, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BOC International, CCB International, Daiwa, Essence Securities, ICBC International and JP Morgan. Citigroup, Haitong International, Morgan Stanley and UBS are joint lead managers.