China Strategic Holding and Primus Financial Holdings yesterday resubmitted to Taiwan authorities their application to take over Nan Shan Life Insurance from American International Group for US$2.15 billion. Their first application to buy Taiwan's second-largest insurer was turned down because it did not carry 'enough required information', Taiwan's financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission, said. The documents will also have to be vetted by the FSC's banking and insurance bureaus, the central bank and the Mainland Affairs Council. The FSC wants to see the application as soon as possible and has publicly criticised the delayed resubmission, saying that any further hold-up could affect the insurer's business. Raymond Or Ching-fai, the chief executive of China Strategic, declined to comment on the details of the additional information that had been presented to the regulator. 'We understand what is needed for the application from our experience last time, Now we are just waiting for the documents to be reviewed,' he said. Debt-laden AIG sold Nan Shan Life in October last year to Hong Kong-listed battery maker China Strategic and Asian private equity fund Primus, which is headed by former Citigroup investment banker Robert Morse. Chinatrust Financial Holding, which lost out in the bid for the insurer, was brought into the deal in November after China Strategic and Primus agreed to sell at least 30 per cent of Nan Shan to the credit-card issuer in return for a stake in the company. 'I think the chance for the deal to go through is higher now that Chinatrust is on board,' said Wang Dar-yeh, a professor at the National Taiwan University's centre for the study of banking and finance. If the deal is approved by the regulator, it will be the first major takeover of a financial institution in Taiwan by Hong Kong firms. 'It can encourage more foreign investments in Taiwan's financial industry if this deal works out,' said Wang. 'The main objective for the regulators is to check the source of funding and how the takeover will affect employee benefits.' China Strategic and Primus' source of funding for the Nan Shan deal has been called into question by Taiwan's media. The Democratic Progressive Party has urged Taipei to examine whether the Hong Kong firms are using mainland cash.
