Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, China's second-largest insurer, will seek more overseas investments, President Louis Cheung said yesterday as shareholders approved the firm's plan to issue additional Hong Kong stocks.

"We have a lot of cash to spend, but we're also mindful of global volatility and currency risk as we look overseas," Cheung said at an annual meeting in Shenzhen yesterday, where shareholders approved a Ping An proposal to sell as much as 20 percent of existing Hong Kong-listed shares.

"Buying euro-denominated assets fits into our long-term goal to spread risk globally," he said.

The Shenzhen-based insurer is refilling its coffers after investing almost 4 billion euros ($6.2 billion) in Belgium's Fortis since November. Fortis agreed in March to sell half of its asset-management unit to Ping An for 2.15 billion euros ($3.44 billion).

The Chinese insurer bought 4.2 percent of Fortis for 1.81 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in November. "Shareholders feel very cautious about any overseas acquisitions by Ping An right now," said Tong Zheng, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Bank of Communications Schroder Fund Management, which owns Ping An stock. "There's a lot of uncertainty about subprime and currency risks as the Chinese yuan continues to appreciate. I'd want to hear more specifics."

Ping An has no timetable for its proposed share sales in Hong Kong or Shanghai, Chairman Peter Ma said.

Shareholders approved a proposal to sell as many as 1.2 billion new shares in Shanghai at a March 5 meeting. Ping An, part-owned by HSBC Holdings, announced last week it won't apply for regulator approval to offer additional stocks in mainland China for at least six months.

The company's Shanghai-traded stock has plunged 36 percent since the plan was disclosed on Jan 18.

Ping An will put more money into bonds, and it has no plan to reduce its equity investments, Cheung said yesterday.

The insurer aimed for its equity investments to make up between 15 and 20 percent of its portfolio, Cheung said.

Bloomberg

(HK Edition 05/14/2008 page2)