China Insurance International Holdings (CIIH) plans to become the largest single shareholder of two mainland-registered insurers as part of its foray into the country's expanding insurance market.
Chairman Yang Chao said CIIH planned to take a stake in Taiping Property Insurance and Taiping Life Assurance.
The two insurers are wholly owned by CIIH's ultimate parent, the mainland-registered China Insurance Co.
China Insurance Co received approval from Beijing to resume insurance business after it was prevented from activity in the sector in 1949 when the Communists took power.
The two insurers, set up in Shanghai in 1929, are seeking to become shareholding companies with a registered capital of 500 million yuan (about HK$468.5 million) each, the amount required to obtain a licence.
CIIH revealed the plan after it recently opened a representative office in Shanghai to develop re-insurance business.
