Ping An Completes Acquisition of Newbridge’s Shares in SDB
Shanghai, Hong Kong, 7 May 2010 - Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd (hereafter "Ping An" or "the Group", HKEX: 02318; SSE: 601318) announced today its acquisition of 520,414,439 shares in Shenzhen Development Bank ("SDB") from Newbridge Asia AIV III, L.P. ("Newbridge") has been completed. The transaction has lifted Ping An's shareholding in SDB to 21.44%, making it the largest shareholder of the bank. Ping An and Newbridge said the transaction, which represents a milestone in the evolution of China's financial and insurance industries, has unlocked benefits for the parties involved and united their strengths.
As disclosed in a statement posted by Ping An on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today, Newbridge has transferred all of the 520,414,439 share in SDB held by it to Ping An. Prior to the completion of the transfer, the Group and Ping An Life, a subsidiary of the Group, held a total of 145,328,248 shares in SDB, representing approximately 4.68% of SDB's existing share capital of 3,105,433,762 shares. Subsequent to the completion of the transfer, the Group and Ping An Life jointly hold a total of 665,742,687 shares in SDB, representing approximately 21.44% of the existing share capital of SDB.
The subscription of shares in SDB by Ping An Life through non-public issue is still subject to approval by relevant regulatory authorities.
Newbridge offered its congratulations to Ping An for becoming SDB's largest shareholder. Ping An is known for its transparent management, accountable governance, visionary strategy, solid business model based on its integrated financial strength and first-class management team. Newbridge said it believes the transaction helps usher in tremendous development potential for SDB thanks to Ping An's solid financial strength, massive yet quality customer base, a national service network as well as a cutting-edge back platform.
SDB said it welcomes the strategic investment by Ping An. The investment demonstrates Ping An's confidence in the long term, continued and healthy development of SDB. Through Ping An's integrated financial platform for insurance, banking and securities businesses, SDB hopes to be able to further develop its customer base while complementing each other's strength. Through sharing experiences and expertise, SDB is convinced that the two companies will be able to better serve their respective clients. SDB also would like to express its gratitude to Newbridge for their support over the last five years which has helped improve its performance.
Ping An said the strategic investment in SDB is in line with its strategic plan, and is a step towards achieving its goal of ‘one customer, one account, multiple products and one-stop services', which helps facilitate the balanced development of its three pillar businesses: insurance, banking and investment. The strategic investment will enable SDB to share Ping An's massive customer base, national sales network, cutting-edge back office support, and its successful cross-selling experience. At the same time, Ping An will press ahead with the issuing of shares related to the SDB investment to help enhance the financial strength, capital adequacy ratio and core competencies of SDB. While expressing its confidence in SDB's future, Ping An also praised the quality of the bank's management and staff, and expressed its hope to maintain a stable workforce in the bank and create better development opportunities.
Ping An's strategic mission is to establish itself as an internationally leading integrated financial services group by leveraging its three pillar businesses: insurance, banking and investment. Ping An has drawn up a clear development plan for its banking business, and has assembled a management team with proven international experience including merger and acquisition credentials. In 2003, Ping An and HSBC jointly acquired Fujian Asia Bank Limited. In 2006, Ping An acquired Shenzhen Commercial Bank. The two acquired banks were later successfully merged which later became Ping An Bank, which continues to thrive. As at December 31, 2009, Ping An Bank has RMB220.7 billion in total assets and is a leader in asset quality. The Bank's total number of accumulated credit cards in circulation reached 3.4 million and registered total transaction value of more than RMB36 billion.
