China Pacific leads APAC insurance fundraising charts for H2'25

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd. was the largest capital market fundraiser among insurance companies in the Asia Pacific region in the second half of 2025, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

The company issued about HK$15.56 billion of convertible bonds in September 2025 and the insurer will prioritize growing its health insurance business in 2026, a company representative said in a third-quarter 2025 earnings call.

"A lot of big demand in China for health insurance," the representative said. "Also in terms of Chinese policy, we look at a lot of high-level policies issued from the Chinese government, a lot about... health insurance .... long-term care insurance, et cetera. All these... will give us more opportunity to further develop health insurance business."

Japan activity

Japanese insurers continued to be active in capital markets, with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. and Nippon Life Insurance Co. the second- and third-biggest fundraisers in the second half of 2025.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, fresh off an investment valued at approximately $3.8 billion in US insurer W. R. Berkley Corp. in March 2025, issued about ¥200 billion of domestic unsecured straight bonds in July. And in November 2025, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance agreed to acquire an 18% equity interest in North Carolina-based Barings LLC, an asset management firm, from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. for $1.44 billion. Mitsui Sumitomo intends to fund the acquisition with cash on hand and external funding.

Parent company MS&AD Insurance Group is unlikely to make further large investments in the next two years or so after the two transactions, S&P Global Ratings analyst Kentaro Mukoyama wrote in a report.

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Nippon Life issued €500 million of subordinated notes a few months before announced a tender offer to acquire Medical Data Vision Co. Ltd. in a bid to establish health data and health-data analytics capabilities. Nippon Life will pay ¥‎1,693 per share to minority shareholders who beneficially own about 62.19% of Medical Data, and Nippon Life will acquire treasury shares from SBI Holdings Inc. at ¥1,189 apiece.

Nippon Life has regularly issued subordinated debt, taking advantage of its strong brand in capital markets and sound credit quality, Mukoyama wrote in a report. This has strengthened the group's capitalization, Mukoyama said, adding that the group's capital remains at a high level, although major business investments have increased the group's capital burden in recent years.