Regulators Support Pingan's Proposed Stake in SDB

飞雪寒冰

China's securities, banking and insurance regulators "cautiously" support the proposed purchase of Shenzhen Development Bank shares by China Ping An Insurance Group Co., sources close to the regulators told Caijing on Sept. 2.

It is only "a matter of time" before the deal is approved, but it still "has to meet some regulatory requirements", the sources said, without elaborating.

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission must review the application first, before it is passed to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to review the price and terms of the transaction.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission will then give final approval on shareholder qualification.

On June 12, Ping An (SH.601318; HK.02318) agreed to buy 370-585 million new shares from SDB (SZ.000001) in a private placement at 18.26 yuan per share.

飞雪寒冰

Ping An will also buy 520.4 million SDB shares from Newbridge Capital, paying either 11.4 billion yuan in cash or issuing 299.1 million H shares to Newbridge.

The deals will raise Ping An's stake in SDB to more than 30 percent, compared with the current 4.54 percent.

SDB shareholders approved the private placement plan on June 29.

Ping An shareholders earlier approved a plan to issue an additional 20 percent of outstanding H shares via private placement, paving the way for the insurer's optional share swap with SDB.