25 June 2004 – LAWFUEL – Dibb Lupton Alsop has advised Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Limited, (“Ping An”) on its US$1.84 billion equity raising from listing its H shares on 24 June 2004 on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

This is the largest IPO in Hong Kong so far for this year and it will give Ping An a market capitalization of US$8.2 billion. This is also expected to be one of the largest IPOs of 2004 worldwide.
Ping An is a financial holding company covering general and life insurance, banking, securities, trust and investment. It is the second-largest life insurer and third-largest property and casualty insurance provider in China. Ping An sold approximately 1.39 billion H shares, or 22.4% of the enlarged capital of the company after completion of the IPO, priced at HK$10.33 per H share (or US$26.493 per ADS).

Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, and Japanese mutual-life insurance company Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance held approximately 24% in the company before the IPO.
BOC International Holdings Limited, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Asia Limited are the joint global coordinators and joint book runners for this global offering.
Hong Kong-based corporate finance partner, Andrew Lui led the DLA team working on the deal and made this comment: “The insurance market in China is developing rapidly and this deal is probably one of the most significant equity raisings in a major PRC financial institution in recent years”.

The other DLA lawyers advising on the deal were: partners Mabel Lui and Roy Chan, and solicitors Eugene Choi, Wilfred Wong, Billy Au, William Tsang and Raymond Lam.
DLA also acted for Ping An in the sale of 10% of its entire issued share capital to HSBC and its recent acquisition of a Chinese foreign joint venture bank.