Davis Polk advised The People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited (PICC) in connection with its approximately HK$24 billion ($3.1 billion) initial public offering and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and an international offering in reliance on Rule 144A and Regulation S. The IPO, with total proceeds of nearly $3.6 billion if the over-allotment option is fully exercised, is the largest initial public offering in Hong Kong and the largest initial public offering of a PRC company during the past two years.
Founded in October 1949 and being the first nation-wide insurance company in China, PICC is a leading large-scale integrated insurance financial group in China, ranking 292nd on the Global 500 (2012) published by Fortune magazine. PICC offers a broad range of insurance products and services to individual and institutional insurance customers through a nationwide distribution and service network. PICC ranked first in the PRC P&C insurance market with a market share of 36.3% in terms of Original Premiums Income in 2011.
The Davis Polk corporate team included partners Howard Zhang, Antony Dapiran, Li He, Jeffrey M. Oakes and James C. Lin, counsel John J. Satory and associates Amanda Lau, Yang Chu, Faisal Baloch and Xiaoxi Lin and registered foreign lawyer Bingqing Pan. Partner John D. Paton and associate Sarah Joy provided tax advice. Counsel Catherine L. Martin and associate Jake H. Wang provided 1940 Act advice. Xiaodan (Danica) Wang, Andrew Daniel Kang, Pengyao (Raymond) Lai, Lu Tan and Xu Zheng were the legal assistants on the transaction. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the Hong Kong, Beijing, London, Menlo Park and New York offices.
The underwriters on the transaction were led by CICC HKS, HSBC, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs as joint sponsors and by Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, CICC HKS and HSBC as joint global coordinators, together with ABCI, CCB International, Essence International, BOCI, ICBC International, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Daiwa, UBS, Haitong International, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup as joint bookrunners, joint lead managers and underwriters.
