China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co. Ltd. subsidiary Taiping Life Insurance Co. Ltd. agreed to acquire a 4.78% stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. from Shenzhen Legend Science Park Co. Ltd. for 2.86 billion yuan (US$425.8 million).
Under the proposed deal, Taiping Life will acquire 414,904,000 shares of the Shanghai-based bank, representing 4.78% of the bank's total issued shares after the completion of a private placement announced in 2018. As of March 15, the bank has not yet completed the change of business registration in respect of registered capital change, according to a news release.
Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank was incorporated in August 2005 and has 800 billion yuan in assets and about 400 branches. Following the proposed acquisition, Taiping Life will be eligible to nominate one director to the board of the bank.
China Taiping Insurance said the acquisition and the right to nominate a board director will benefit Taiping Life's overall assets composition and investment portfolio from a diversification, asset-liability matching and risk-return perspective.
Taiping Life will fund the acquisition with its internal resources.
Netherland's Ageas Insurance International NV, a subsidiary of Ageas SA/NV, owns a 24.9% stake in Taiping Life.
As of March 14, US$1 was equivalent to 6.72 Chinese yuan.