American International Group (AIG) has sold its holding of 1.1 billion Hong Kong-listed shares of China’s largest non-life insurer, exiting a six-year investment that barely broke even.
AIG raised HK$3.8 billion ($484 million) from selling the stake in People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC), which accounts for 12.76% of state-owned PICC’s Hong Kong-listed equity, a transaction document seen by Caixin showed. The price represented a more than 5% discount to PICC’s Wednesday closing price.
AIG and PICC didn’t respond to Caixin’s questions about the deal.
AIG bought the PICC stake at $500 million in 2012 as one of the cornerstone investors in PICC’s Hong Kong IPO. The investment has provided AIG an average less than 1% annual yield if dividends are included, Caixin calculation showed.
In 2013, AIG and PICC set up a joint venture insurer in China in which PICC holds 75.1% and AIG owns the remainder.