CIRC approves HSBC’s Ping An sale

The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has approved the sale of HSBC's remaining $7.4 billion stake in Ping An Insurance to the Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), Ping An said in a filing posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Saturday.

The CIRC's approval would allow the completion of the biggest equity purchase in the country by a foreign investor.

For HSBC Holdings Plc, the sale marks its exit from a decade-long interest in China's second biggest insurer and books it a $2.6 billion post-tax gain from selling what it no longer considers a core asset.

Approval by the CIRC had been in doubt after media reports last month raised questions over CP Group's funding for the deal.

State-run China Development Bank (CDB) did not provide finances for the purchase, despite being lined up for funding last month, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

CP Group, controlled by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, bought HSBC's 15.6 percent stake in Ping An in December for $9.4 billion, agreeing to pay up front for around a fifth of that stake last month and the rest, backed by CDB, on approval by the Chinese regulator.

Payment for the second $7.4 billion tranche of shares was made in cash, HSBC and CP Group said in separate statements. Last month HSBC had said the second tranche would be financed part in cash and part under a facility with CDB.

The Thai group has a long history in China as the first multinational to invest in China's agri-business in 1979.

The Ping An deal was Asia's second biggest acquisition in 2012, behind Chinese oil firm CNOOC's planned $15.1 billion purchase of Canada's Nexen.

The deal, worth HK$72.74 billion ($9.39 billion), is expected to be completed on February 6, according to the Shanghai Securities News.