A Chinese consortium including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH, 1398.HK) and China Life Insurance (601628.SH, 2628.HK) plans to bid for a 30% stake in AIA, Reuters reported, citing state media. Based on the US$30 billion valuation Prudential agreed to pay for American International Group’s (AIG; AIG.NYSE) Asian life insurance business before its bid collapsed earlier this year, the Chinese consortium would need to pay around US$10 billion. AIA is believed to be looking to raise US$15 billion through a Hong Kong listing later this year. Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that AIG and its advisors were seeking pre-IPO investments from Chinese institutions. The state media report named Cinda Asset Management, Fosun Group, Legend Group’s investment arm Hony Capital and Alibaba.com (1688.HK) as the other members of the consortium.
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