Zurich Considering New China Life Fundraising; Future P/C Growth

Zurich Financial Services is actively talking with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp and major steelmaker Baosteel on fundraising plans for their venture New China Life Insurance, a Zurich Financial executive said on Tuesday.

Johnny Chen, Zurich Financial’s chief executive officer for Greater China/Southeast Asia, said the partners were still discussing what form the fundraising would take and how much would be targeted.

“We have been participating in active discussions regarding how to raise additional funds to fuel further growth of the company,” Chen told a media briefing. He did not rule out the possibility of an initial public offering.

Zurich Financial, Europe’s fourth-largest insurer by market value, is a partner with CIC unit Central Huijin and Baosteel in New China Life, which Chen said was now the country’s fourth-largest life insurer with an 8 percent market share.

Zurich Financial, which invested in New China Life a decade ago and now holds a 20 percent stake, will also step up expansion in China’s non-life insurance market, Chief Executive Officer Martin Senn told the same briefing.

Zurich Financial on Tuesday launched a $3 million research centre in Shanghai with a focus on marine insurance and risk management, and is awaiting regulatory approval to establish a subsidiary in Shanghai. It obtained a license to provide property insurance services in Beijing in 2006.

Zurich Financial reiterated on Tuesday that its life insurance division aims to triple Asia’s contribution to global revenue to more than 20 percent in three to five years through organic growth.