ZhongAn plans to issue 199 million new shares at HK$53.70 (US$6.88) to HK$59.70 apiece for an up to HK$11.9 billion (US$1.5 billion) IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

China’s top online-only insurer ZhongAn sets terms for Hong Kong IPO as Softbank weighs in was written by Emma Lee for TechNode.

China’s first online-only insurance agency ZhongAn announced on Monday the terms for the largest and most anticipated IPO of China’s tech scene in the second half of this year. The company plans to issue 199 million new shares at HK$53.70 (US$6.88) to HK$59.70 apiece for an up to HK$11.9 billion (US$1.5 billion) IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Of the total shares, 95 per cent will be offered globally while five per cent offered for public subscription in Hong Kong, according to the firm. Trading of the shares will start from September 28.

Becoming a cornerstone investor in the company, SoftBank Group plans to purchase 72 million shares, or a five per cent stake in ZhongAn at the offer price. That means SoftBank Group’s stake would be worth about US$522 million.

Founded in 2013, ZhongAn is a joint venture among Alibaba, Tencent and Chinese insurance company PingAn. The firm offers insurance products and solutions for consumer finance, health, automobile and travel services. It’s also planning to add life insurance and other health products after the IPO.

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ZhongAn said it has sold over 7.2 billion insurance policies and served over 492 million customers since its inception and claims to be China’s largest insurer in by the number of customers and policies sold.

Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial is ZhongAn’s biggest shareholder with a 16 per cent stake, according to a preliminary prospectus filed in June. PingAn Insurance Group and Tencent each hold 12 per cent of ZhongAn. In 2015, ZhongAn raised RMB5.8 billion (US$882 million) from a group of investors including Morgan Stanley and China International Capital Corp, CDH Investments, and SAIF Partners. The fundraising valued it at about US$8 billion at the time.

Reuters, citing a source close to the matter, reports that the institutional portion of ZhongAn’s IPO is oversubscribed. Representatives for ZhongAn declined to comment.

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