Chinese Consortium to Buy Singapore's Asia Capital Reinsurance

A Chinese consortium of two state-owned companies has reached a deal to buy Singaporean reinsurer ACR Capital Holdings, ACR said in an announcement Wednesday. The consortium will pay for $1 billion for ACR, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings Co. and Shenzhen Investment Holdings Co. will acquire a 100% stake in ACR from its shareholders, which include Singaporean state investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Japanese industrial conglomerate Marubeni Corp. and UK-based investment company 3i Group PLC, ACR said.

In a separate announcement, 3i said it is selling its stake in ACR for about 182 million pounds ($232 million), and that the transaction is expected to close by early 2017. The firm invested $200 million in ACR in 2006, according to its website.

Insurers are attractive assets for Chinese companies, which have been on a global shopping spree this year. The country has announced outbound investments amounting to a record $174 billion in the first nine months of this year, Dealogic data show.

Many other Chinese insurers bid for ACR, including Foresea Life Insurance Co., an insurer based in the same city of Shenzhen as the winning consortium; a consortium consisting of China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co. and Hong Kong's Mason Financial Holdings Ltd.; and Peak Reinsurance Co., controlled by China's Fosun International Ltd, people familiar with the situation said in July.

Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings is wholly owned by Qianhai Authority, the administrative body of the Qianhai Free Trade Zone in Shenzhen. It owns a 20% stake in recently established Qianhai Reinsurance Co.

Shenzhen Investment Holdings Co. is owned by the Shenzhen government. It is the largest shareholder in a number of leading financial institutions, including Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, China's second-largest insurer.

Besides Singapore, ACR has offices in Hong Kong, Dubai, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and India.

Write to P.R. Venkat at [e-mail] and Kane Wu at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2016 09:55 ET (13:55 GMT)

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