Chubb ups stake in Beijing-based insurance group

Property and casualty insurer Chubb is set to buy an additional 15.3 percent stake in Beijing-based Huatai Insurance Group, boosting its share in the Chinese firm to 46.2 percent.

Chubb obtained regulatory approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) for the deal last week. It follows previous purchases that had already increased the company's stake in Huatai to 30.9 percent.

Huatai Insurance Group is the holding company of Huatai P&C Insurance Company, Huatai Life Insurance Company and Huatai Asset Management Companyas well as other subsidiaries. The group's insurance operations have more than 600 branches and 11 million customers.

Chubb will buy the shares from the Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy and Chemical Group and one of its wholly owned subsidiaries. The companies that negotiated this sale have also agreed to a further deal to buy an additional 7.1 percent of the company, once the first purchase completes, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.

Evan Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Chubb, said: "Earlier this year, following approval from the CBIRC, we increased our ownership in Huatai Insurance Group, which became the first domestic Chinese financial services holding company to convert to a Sino-foreign equity joint venture. The agreement we are announcing today is another important milestone toward our goal of majority and beyond ownership in Huatai."

He added: "We are committed to supporting Huatai as a long-term strategic shareholder and we have great confidence in the long-term potential of the Chinese insurance market. We are builders at Chubb, and our increasing stake in Huatai is an opportunity to build a great Chinese insurance company that will meet the growing protection needs of Chinese consumers and businesses."

Chubb has been trading in China since 1792 when a legacy company – the Insurance Company of North America (INA) – began providing protection to the pioneers of trade between the United States and China., INA appointed an agent in Shanghai in 1897 and started to officially conduct business in China.

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