NewMore Chinese insurers buy up stakes in property developers

Anbang Insurance is buying into mainland property developer Sino Ocean Land, according to a stock exchange filing yesterday, a day after Foresea Life Insurance and a related company emerged as the biggest stake holders in real estate major China Vanke.

Anbang is buying a combined 20.5 per cent stake worth HK$7.8 billion in Sino Ocean from two subsidiary companies of Nan Fung Group, said a Sino Ocean filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Each Sino Ocean Land share is priced at HK5.05 in the deal, slightly higher than the stock’s last closing price of HK$4.69.

The Sino Ocean deal comes after a stock exchange filing by Vanke on Sunday said Shenzhen Jushenghua and sister company Foresea Life Insurance had increased their stake in the developer to 20 per cent, displacing China Resources as the largest stakeholder.

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This is the first time Vanke has officially identified Jushenghua and Foresea. Jushenghua, an investment firm, is the largest stakeholder in Foresea.

Jushenghua has bought shares amounting to 4.969 per cent of Vanke on the Shenzhen stock exchange from November 27 to December 4, Vanke said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Calculating the average price of the last six trading days until December 4, Jushenghua is estimated to have spent about 9.4 billion yuan.

The two companies together already held 15 per cent of Vanke.

Foresea Life, a private insurer formed in 2012, has aggressively increased its stake in Vanke this year, adding to its shareholdings through purchases from June to August.

Vanke’s A shares surged sharply last week, with the stock price rising by the maximum 10 per cent for two consecutive days. The developer is listed both in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.