China Rescues Anbang Insurance With US$10 Billion Bailout After Ex-Chair Admits Fraud
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China will inject 60.8 billion yuan (US$9.7 billion) into the beleaguered Anbang Insurance Group to ensure its solvency after ex-chairman Wu Xiaohui admitted fundraising fraud and embezzlement involving more than US$10 billion.
The injection of cash from the government-run Insurance Protection Fund will take Anbang’s registered capital to 61.9 billion yuan, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Anbang, one of China’s largest insurers, claims on its website that it controls almost 2 trillion yuan of assets. The company is known for its aggressive global expansion, including the almost US$2 billion acquisition of New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in 2014.
In February the Chinese government seized control of Anbang after Wu was detained for alleged economic crimes, marking one of Beijing’s most dramatic moves in its clampdown on financial risks stemming from excessive borrowing.
Last week Wu asked for leniency in court in Shanghai as he pleaded guilty to charges of “fraudulent fundraising” and “work-related embezzlement”. Prosecutors had previously accused him of defrauding investors of 65.3 billion yuan (US$10.4 billion), making his trial one of China’s biggest related to financial crimes.
The Insurance Protection Fund, set up to protect policyholders in the event of an insurer going bankrupt, is run by the CIRC and had pooled 108.5 billion yuan from insurers by last September.
The aim of the cash injection is to guard the insurer against “insolvency and instability”, while making sure the government takeover of Anbang proceeds in an orderly way, the CIRC said on Wednesday.
Anbang will start to select strategic shareholders soon and introduce private capital to participate in its equity restructuring, especially those “big privately owned companies” that have collaborative resources with insurance businesses in the pension, health care, and internet technology sectors, the regulator added.
“As a non-government industry rescue fund, the Insurance Protection Fund only temporarily holds stakes at Anbang. Next, the fund will transfer its stakes methodically and let Anbang remain a privately owned company,” the CIRC said in the statement.
Previously, the CIRC said the government takeover would last for at least a year. During the takeover, the company will be managed by a group of officials from the CIRC, the People’s Bank of China, the securities, banking, and foreign-exchange regulators.
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Author: Laura He
Source: SCMP
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