Ping An eyes overseas splurge

Ping An Insurance CEO Jason Yao attends a news conference on the company's interim results in Hong Kong on August 18, 2016. [Photo / Agencies]

Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, the country's second-largest insurer, is aiming for a possible fivefold increase in overseas investments and has not been put off Britain by its vote to leave the European Union, its group chief financial officer said on Thursday.

Ping An plans to increase gradually its overseas investments to 5-10 percent of total insurance assets if it can find appropriate targets, CFO Jason Yao said.

It currently invests about 2 percent of its total assets abroad, well below the 15 percent cap imposed by China's insurance regulator, giving it ample room to increase.

"That could even happen in the next three to five years because the world is changing very fast," Yao said, naming the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe as the key investment markets the company is targeting.

Britain's vote on the EU was not an issue, he said.

"There will be investment opportunities in the UK ... Britain's stock market and currency have gradually stabilized (since the vote). We've been watching that very closely," he said.

Based on Ping An's current insurance assets, the company's total overseas investments could reach as much as $27.5 billion, up from about $5.5 billion currently, according to Reuters' calculations.

Yao said possible investments included property, logistics-related real estate and private equity funds. Ping An bought London office property Tower Place for 327 million pounds ($427 million) in January 2015 and Lloyds Building in the city's financial district for 260 million pounds in July 2013.

Ping An posted an 18 percent rise in first-half net profit, led by a one-off gain in its internet finance business.

REUTERS