Jan. 4, 2007 (China Knowledge) – China Life Insurance Co. has allocated over 137 million of its IPO shares to its domestic competitors, with more than 10 insurance companies exercising 33 subscription accounts to acquire over 137.3 million of China Life Insurance Co. IPO shares via both strategic and offline placements.

Ping An Insurance Co., Huatai Insurance Co., Taikang Insurance Co. and five other domestic insurance companies purchased 87.3 million shares through offline placements, while China Reinsurance (Group) Co., the nation’s largest reinsurance company, and PICC Property and Casualty Co., the biggest non-life insurer in China, obtained 20 million and 30 million shares respectively through strategic placements.

As China Life’s biggest competitor in China’s life insurance market, Ping An Insurance was allocated over 41.86 million shares, accounting for almost 14% of China Life’s total 300 million offline share placement. Based on that, Ping An Insurance would have incurred approximately RMB 465 million in unrealized capital gains if China Life’s share price, going by the predictions of fund managers, surges over RMB 30 on its first day of trading.

According to the press release by China Life, 37.5 million shares, accounting for 2.5% of the total issuance, were readjusted to the online placement from the offline one by exercising the claw back mechanism and this changes the overall issuance structure. Currently, 600 million shares were allocated to strategic investors, accounting for 40% of the total shares, while 300 million shares were distributed to offline subscribers, accounting for 20% of the total and the rest of the 600 million shares were allocated to online subscribers.

A total of 17 strategic investors have bought 550 million China Life IPO shares beside China Reinsurance and PICC, out of which, the Social Insurance Fund was allocated 40 million shares, Baosteel Group, China Shipping (Group) and 14 other State-owned major corporations have acquired 510 million shares. The lock-up period for strategic investors is 12 months and three months for offline subscribers.