Asian insurer FWD nears filing for US$1b IPO

[HONG KONG] FWD Group Holdings Ltd, the Asian insurer backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, filed an application for an initial public offering (IPO) in the city, after US-China tensions scuppered more ambitious plans for an overseas debut.

Sponsoring banks include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and CMBI, according to a filing Monday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The amount to be raised was not specified.

The company could seek to raise about US$1 billion in a share sale this year, Bloomberg News reported earlier, citing sources.

A listing may take place within the first half of the year, depending on market volatility and investor demand, the people said. Considerations are ongoing and the deal could still face delays, the sources said.

In December, FWD switched its listing venue to Hong Kong from the US, where it had filed for an IPO that could have raised as much as US$3 billion. The plan hit a snag amid US regulators' increasing unease over the long arm of the Chinese government, after a post-IPO probe of Didi Global Inc kicked off a wide-ranging crackdown on firms listing overseas.

The ensuing rout wiped about US$1.5 trillion of market value from Chinese companies globally, prompting the Securities and Exchange Commission to halt first-time share sales in the US by Chinese firms until recently. Although FWD has no business in China, the US market remains broadly closed to larger companies based in China and Hong Kong.

FWD's value of new business rose to US$686 million in 2021, an 11 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the filing Monday.

BLOOMBERG