China insurance giant seeks Hong Kong IPO

China's Sunshine Insurance Group is reportedly seeking an initial public offering in Hong Kong while China's securities regulator has received the insurer's materials for an overseas listing, according to its website.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has received the Beijing-based insurer's application for overseas listing on April 6, its official website showed, while the mainland media outlet The Paper reported that Sunshine is planning to list in Hong Kong.

Last November, the International Financing Review under Reuters reported that Sunshine would raise up to US$2 billion (HK$15.6 billion) during a share sale in Hong Kong this year.

Founded in 2005, Sunshine was jointly set up by several large state-owned firms including Sinopec (0386), Aluminum Corporation of China (2600) and China Southern Airlines (1055).

The company is among seven mainland top insurance groups, providing property insurance, life insurance, credit and guarantee insurance, as well as asset management.

Meanwhile, Ernst & Young expects to see an increasing number of homecoming listings of Chinese stocks in 2022 and 2023.

The accounting and consulting firm said the main purpose of the homecoming listing is to hedge against risk rather than raising capital, adding that there is possibility that the US-listed Chinese firms will choose to list in Hong Kong by way of introduction, which does not involve issuing new shares or raising new funds.

This came after China modified a decade-long rule that restricted offshore-listed firms' financial data sharing practice, potentially removing a key hurdle for US regulators to gain full access to auditing reports of the majority of the 200-plus Chinese companies listed in New York.

The revised draft rules deleted the requirement that on-site inspections should be mainly conducted by Chinese regulatory agencies or rely on their inspection results, the CSRC said in a joint statement with other regulators last Saturday.

Chinese authorities have been trying to bolster investor confidence following a series of crackdowns that have rattled markets. Promising greater policy stability, the CSRC said it supports overseas listings, prospects for which have been clouded by a raft of new rules and the stand-off with the US over access to company audits