Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China (2318.HK)

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China's Big Short Looks More Like a Big Squeeze to Investors

Bloomberg News
July 5, 2017, 5:00 AM GMT+8 July 5, 2017, 10:22 AM GMT+8

Traders who think they’ve found China’s next big short could be setting themselves up for a squeeze.

That’s the takeaway from top-ranked fund managers and analysts after short interest in Ping An Insurance Group Co., China’s largest non-state controlled financial firm, swelled to a record HK$54 billion ($6.9 billion) in June. It’s by far the biggest bearish wager on Hong Kong’s stock exchange, where most of China’s top companies have listings.

While pessimists argue that Ping An is vulnerable as Chinese regulators crack down on the nation’s financial industry, some of the most prescient stock pickers in Hong Kong disagree. They say the company’s low valuation, outsize growth and knack for avoiding the government spotlight could extend the stock’s 34 percent rally this year.

“I would not short it,” said Alex Wong, whose $110 million Leverage Partners Absolute Return Fund outperformed 99 percent of peers tracked by Bloomberg over the past five years. He cited Ping An’s push into China’s fast-growing Internet finance sector as a potential trigger for further gains.

ore details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-investors

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Online-only Chinese retail investment platform to launch in Singapore in third quarter

by Annabeth Leow
July 17, 2017

SINGAPORE - An online-only platform for retail investors will launch here in the third quarter, China's Ping An Group announced on Monday (July 17).

Lu International (Singapore) Financial Asset Exchange, a spin-off from the Shanghai-based Lufax, has received an in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its capital markets services (CMS) licence.

Lufax was set up in 2011 as a peer-to-peer lender backed by Ping An Insurance and has more than 31 million registered users.

But in a growing shift away from its roots, Lu International will target middle-income offshore retail investors, said chief executive Kit Wong.

More details in http://www.straitstimes.com/business/com...ngapore-in

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China's Ping An Is No. 2 to Berkshire Hathaway and Rising Fast

Bloomberg News
November 21, 2017, 1:03 PM GMT+8

A surge in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co.’s shares this year has made it the world’s second-largest insurer by market value after Berkshire Hathaway Inc. And the rally may not be done yet.

Shares of the Chinese insurer, which more than doubled this year to boost the company’s market valuation to about $208 billion, jumped on Tuesday to a new record after Chief Financial Officer Jason Yao told reporters that the firm’s technological prowess was under-rated. Ping An’s valuation has much room to increase as the company gradually spins off Internet technology units for their own listings, Yao said on Monday in Shenzhen, where the company held its Investor Day.

Optimism surrounding Ping An’s business prospects ahead of its investor meetings helped propel a 14 percent advance in the shares since Thursday. The shares rose 5.8 percent to HK$83.80 in Hong Kong amid a broader rally for financial stocks, and are the best performers this year on the 46-company Hang Seng China H-Financials Index.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ising-fast

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Ping An's OneConnect plans New York listing in mid-November: source

Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Kim Coghill
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 / 1:16 PM

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ping An Insurance’s (601318.SS) OneConnect financial technology unit is aiming for a stock market debut in New York in mid November this year, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd (2318.HK), China’s biggest insurer by market value, changed the listing venue to New York from Hong Kong a few months ago in the hope of achieving a higher valuation.

The company, which counts Japan’s SoftBank Corp (9434.T) among its main investors, was earlier looking to launch the initial public offering (IPO) as early as this month.

OneConnect, which provides technology solutions to small and medium-sized financial institutions, was eyeing a valuation of about $8 billion and raise up to $1 billion in the IPO, sources had told Reuters in June.

The unit’s latest listing timetable could change subject to market conditions and investor reaction, however, said the person, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to media.

More details in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ping-...SKBN1W50I7