The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has given its approval to the sale of HSBC’s remaining $7.4bn stake in Ping An Insurance to Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) in Thailand.
CP Group’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries including All Gain Trading, Bloom Fortune Group, Business Fortune Holdings and Easy Boom Developments will acquire 976,121,395 H shares from HSBC Insurance Holdings and HSBC Asia Pacific.
HSBC will book a $2.6bn post-tax gain, following the completion of transaction, which also marks an end of a decade-long partnership with the Chinese underwriter.
In December 2012, CP Group purchased HSBC’s 256,694,218 shares in Ping An in first trench for nearly $1.94bn, and it was agreed that the second trench comprising 976,121,395 shares will be offered at a value of $7.4bn in cash.
The whole transaction, which has been valued at $9.39bn, is likely to be completed on 6 February this year, according to the Shanghai Securities News.