China Life Insurance and other insurance companies are among the investors in the planned initial public offering for the Chinese arm of Singapore agribusiness Wilmar International valued at around $2 billion.
The proposed listing of Yihai Kerry Arawana, which deals in grains processing and edible oils, is set to raise RMB13.9 billion (US$2.06 billion), according to a report by Reuters. The IPO is slated for mid-October, but whether it will push through will still be subject to prevailing market conditions, Wilmar said.
Twenty strategic investors were named by the company and have been allocated 30% of the IPO shares. These include state-owned funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies. Aside from China Life, other major entities named in the report are Singapore’s GIC, China Structural Reform Fund and Rongze Investment Company.
China Life, established in 1949, is 70% owned by the Chinese government and has a market cap of US$460.3 billion. It is ranked 37th on Forbes’ Global 2000 for 2020.