Chinese state owned insurer and biggest insurance conglomerate; People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) has authorized 14 different banks to manage its USD 6 billion initial public offer (IPO) in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Touted to be one of the biggest listings in Asia, PICC has prepared an ‘hard underwriting agreement’ for the banks according to which the banks will be responsible for bringing the orders and will also have to buy all the unsold shares if the demand turns out to be low.
PICC is the latest Chinese insurer looking to list in Hong Kong after New China Life Insurance Co. raised USD1.9 billion in December and AIA Group Ltd., the pan-Asian life insurer floated by American International Group Inc. (AIG), raised USD20.5 billion in October 2010 in the world's biggest insurance IPO.