By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-31 09:44

China Reinsurance Group, the nation's largest reinsurer, yesterday restructured itself into a shareholding company, paving the way for an initial public offering next year.

The new company, China Reinsurance Group Co Ltd, was co-founded by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Huijin Investment Corp.

Central Huijin holds an 85.5 percent stake in the company after it injected US$4 billion into the group last year, while the Ministry of Finance has the other 14.5 percent.

"After the restructure, we will prepare to list," said Liu Jingsheng, chairman of China Re.

A source from China Re told China Daily that a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong is the company's first choice and it plans to list within a year.

"If everything goes smoothly, the listing could even be achieved by the end of this year," said the source, who declined to be named.

Analysts said the size of China Re's initial public offering could be around 20 billion yuan (US$2.67 billion).

Post-restructure, China Re is Asia's largest reinsurer and the world's fifth largest in terms of net assets. With registered capital of 36.15 billion yuan, the company has about 90 percent of the domestic market.

By the end of September, China Re's assets totaled 94 billion yuan. The company's premiums income hit 29 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year jump of 41.6 percent.

China Re plans to bring in strategic investors before it lists, but Liu said it is still too early to disclose details. He said China Re would like to focus on reinsuring the farming industry against damage caused by natural disasters.

According to Wu Dingfu, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), the China Re restructure was crucial to enhance its underwriting and strengthen competitiveness on the international market.

China's reinsurance market is expected to be worth 100 billion yuan by 2010, when its total premium revenue exceeds 1 trillion yuan, according to the CIRC.

"Reinsurance can help to push the development of the insurance market. It's an important indicator of the maturity and safety of a country's insurance sector," said Wu.

However, statistics from the industry regulator show that premiums income from the reinsurance market only accounted for 6 percent of the total in 2006, lagging the average 20 percent of developing countries.