Chinese insurance company Ping An is reportedly planning to sell Founder Group’s life insurance business.
Ping An Insurance is in talks with financial advisors for the potential divesture, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Sale of Founder Group’s life insurance could fetch Ping An as much as $1bn, the people added.
As per the report, the talks are still at an early stage and no final decision has been made yet. However, some insurers and investment funds have shown interest in buying the life insurer.
The firm was created as a result of the restructuring of the Peking University Founder Group, which is the troubled unit of Chinese University.
Its assets include Founder Securities, Founder Technology Group, and China Hi-Tech Group.
Peking University Founder Group’s restructuring plan was recently approved by the country’s court.
As part of the restructuring, a group of firms including Ping An, and Zhuhai Huafa Group agreed to invest $8.3bn (CNY53.7bn) to $11bn (CNY73.3bn) in the company.
Earlier this year, Ping An revealed plans to buy a 51.1% to 70% stake in Founder Group for nearly $7.8bn (CNY50.75bn).
In August this year, it was reported that Ping An Insurance was reportedly being probed by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC).
The probe was aimed at Ping An’s investments in the property market.
Notably, the Chinese financial services industry is going through a liquidity crisis caused by Evergrande Group, a real-estate developer, which is over $300bn in debt.
