Steven Millward · · 1 min readSoftbank buys into Chinese online insurer ahead of $11b IPO
Masayoshi Son at SoftBank World 2016. Photo credit: SoftBank.
Online insurer ZhongAn, one of China’s leading fintech services, today got a big vote of confidence ahead of a much-anticipated IPO.
Japan’s SoftBank will buy a 5 percent stake in ZhongAn in its upcoming share offering, it announced today (hat-tip to TechCrunch). Depending on the offer price, this’ll cost Softbank up to US$550 million.
See: China’s fintech industry shows where the rest of the world is heading
ZhongAn is gearing up to raise US$1.5 billion from an IPO that’ll value it at US$11 billion, according to Reuters citing people familiar with the deal. Alibaba and Tencent-backed ZhongAn, launched in 2013, is a spin-off from Chinese insurance giant PingAn.
Softbank’s Masayoshi Son is arguably the savviest investor in China tech – such as the Alibaba stake that turned from US$20 million to US$50 billion.
Watch: The crazy world of Masayoshi Son
Converted from Hong Kong dollars. Rate: US$1 = HK$7.82.
Editing by Judith Balea
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