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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Alibaba seeking stake in insurer New China Life - state paper, (NYSE: LFC)

China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the world's biggest e-commerce company, is planning to purchase shares in the state-run New China Life Insurance Co Ltd, Shanghai Securities News said on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The newspaper reported that Central Huijin Investment Ltd, the investment arm of the Chinese government and the largest shareholder in the insurer, plans to sell some of its stake to Alibaba. It did not give any details on the size of the deal.Central Huijin currently owns 31.34 percent of the insurer, according to the paper.New China Life Insurance asked for a trading suspension on Jan. 19, saying it was in the midst of negotiations that would affect its shareholding structure.An Alibaba spokeswoman failed to comment on what she called market speculation. A spokesman for New China Life Insurance said: "currently, there is nothing we can tell you."

China Life Insurance Company Limited is a China-based life insurance company. Shares of LFC fell by 1.58% or $-0.96/share to $59.82. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $38.30 and as high as $61.19. On average, 236911 shares of LFC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 364010.



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