The health care subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba has announced that the business group will establish an online health insurance venture with a major Chinese insurer and other companies.
Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd has entered into an agreement with several firms to set up a company with health insurance-related operations and a registered capital of 1 billion yuan or £105.7 million, The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
According to the report, Ali Health chief executive Wang Lei said in an after-trade filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week that the joint venture seeks to “to build an online community where it will connect participants in the health care market of [mainland] China.”
“The company believes that through the joint venture, it will be able to participate in internet health insurance, which is a new and promising business area that will also help to align the interests of the participants in [China’s] health care market,” The SCMP quoted Wang as saying.
The joint venture is still awaiting approval by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.
Hong Kong-based China Taiping Insurance Holdings has 21% percent of the stake in the joint venture to become its second largest shareholder.
Other stake holders included, Alibaba (China) Technology, Taiping Life Insurance, Jiangsu Yuwell Technology Development, Shenzhen Baiyeyuan Investment and Shanghai Yunfeng Investment Management.
