Insurer eyes US$2b IPO

China's Sunshine Insurance Group is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong next year to raise between US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) and US$2 billion, IFR reported.

The insurer is in talks with CICC and UBS discussing the deal. It attempted to invite banks to bid for its Hong Kong IPO in 2010 but did not succeed at the time.

Founded in 2005, the company is among seven mainland top insurance groups, providing property insurance, life insurance, credit and guarantee insurance, as well as asset management.

In other news, Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu recently completed the latest round of financing, raising US$500 million at a valuation of US$20 billion, after Bloomberg said last month that it was weighing a Hong Kong IPO.

Xiaohongshu, whose name literally means "Little Red Book," raised fresh funds from investors including Singapore state investor Temasek, Tencent (0700), Alibaba (9988), Genesis Capital and Tiantu Capital, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Chinese pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization services provider Asymchem Laboratories (Tianjin) is reportedly seeking to pass a listing hearing this week with an aim of raising US$1.5 billion.

In other news, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388) has proposed introducing non-Hong-Kong-dollar denominated futures and options trading and clearing services on Hong Kong public holidays excluding New Year.

The public consultation will close on December 6 and the derivatives holiday trading is expected to begin in April 2022, it said.