DLA Piper has advised Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd (Ping An), the largest insurer in China by market capitalisation, on its USD3.5 billion convertible bond issue. This deal was the largest Reg-S-only convertible bond, the largest convertible bond in the insurance sector, and the first offshore convertible bond ever issued by a Chinese insurance company. Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan are joint global coordinators.
Headquartered in Shenzhen, Ping An is one of the largest integrated finance groups in the world with over 232 million retail customers in China. The insurer intends to use the funds raised to strengthen its capital position and support new strategic initiatives in healthcare and the elderly care sector, as well as other corporate purposes.
The DLA Piper team included lawyers from the firm’s Corporate practice based in Singapore and China. Roy Chan, Senior Partner and Co-Country Managing Partner in China, and Philip Lee, Head of Capital Markets, Asia Pacific and Regional Head of DLA Piper’s Financial Services sector in Asia, along with Vivian Liu, Head of Capital Market Compliance for Greater China, led this transaction. They were supported by associate Le Jing Ong and consultants Ivy Zou, Daina Wang and Vera Zhu.
Commenting on the transaction, Roy Chan said: “We sincerely thank Ping An for trusting us with this important landmark transaction for the company and the insurance sector in general. We are honored to assist them with this historic deal for the company and the convertible bond market in China. Ping An is one of the most innovative businesses in the world, and I am excited to see the new products and services it will develop with additional funding. This deal further highlights DLA Piper’s exceptional strengths and capabilities in executing high-profile capital market transactions.”
Philip Lee, who lead the execution of the transaction, commented “The success of this oversubscribed deal demonstrates that the Reg S market is capable of absorbing a USD3 billion-plus deal and that there is a strong appetite for financial service sector credits in the convertible bond space. This deal will pave the way for other insurance companies and other strong issuers in the market to raise capital in the convertible bond Reg S market without having to tap the US markets. This deal also highlights DLA Piper’s expertise in successfully closing large, complex, first-of-its-kind hybrid deals which I am really proud of.”
