HONG KONG: China's largest property insurer PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd said on Tuesday it planned to raise about 5 billion yuan ($783.20 million) via a rights issue to strengthen its capital base and improve its solvency margin.
In a filing to the Hong Kong bourse, PICC said it proposed an issue of 345.6 million H shares in the proportion of one rights share for every 10 existing H shares held at HK$5.50 each, representing a discount of 47.1 percent to the previous close. The H share rights issue will raise about HK$1.9 billion.
The plan is conditional upon approval from relevant authorities including the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and China Securities Regulatory Commission, it said.
American International Group Inc, which owns about 31.9 percent of PICC's issued H shares, will subscribe to the portion of rights shares allotted to it, PICC said.
PICC also proposed an issue of 768.6 million domestic rights shares on the basis of one domestic rights share for every 10 existing domestic shares held at 4.49 yuan each, raising about 3.5 billion yuan.
China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Ltd (CICC) is the sole global coordinator of the issue. CICC, HSBC and Goldman Sachs are joint lead underwriters and bookrunners.
PICC had said earlier that it would maintain a relatively low combined cost ratio in the second half of this year.
Shares of PICC have fallen 7.6 percent so far this year, comparing with a 21.7 percent drop in the broader market.
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