Bidders of Bank of East Asia’s life insurance unit were unveiled and headed to the final stages of negotiation in a deal valued at up to $600 million.
American founded Hong Kong-based insurer AIA was one of the two bidders in the final staged named, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing unnamed sources.
The other bidder was China Strategic, a Hong Kong-listed firm with diversified businesses across securities and loan financing, brokerage, metal trading and electronic components, which confirmed the news in an exchange filing.
$600 Million Deal
If successful, the deal is expected to raise about $500-600 million. Other bidders could still emerge and discussions could be delayed or fall apart, the report added, with announcements on the sale outcome expected to come as early as this month.
BEA Life had around HK$25.4 billion ($3.3 billion) in assets as of the end of June 2020, according to BEA's latest financial report.
