Ping An Insurance will buy half of Fortis NV’s asset-management arm for US$3.36 billion and has raised its total stake in the Dutch-Belgian bank to 4.99%, the Wall Street Journal reported. The US$6.6 billion combined investment is the largest overseas investment by a Chinese financial-services firm. The deal comes after Fortis reported a US$4.2 billion write-down in subprime-mortgage exposure this month. Fortis joins other Western financial institutions Citigroup and UBS AG in seeking money from the Middle East and Asia to recover from subprime damage. The asset-management sale still requires regulatory approval and completion of terms.
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