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Ironshore buyer raises cash for acquisitions

Fosun Group CEO Guo Guangchang

Fosun International Ltd, which agreed a $1.84 billion deal to buy Bermuda-based insurer Ironshore earlier this year, aims to build up funds for more acquisitions.

The Shanghai-based investment firm, backed by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, proposed raising HK$11.7 billion ($1.5 billion) in a rights offer to fund its push into the banking and insurance industries.

The company plans to sell as many as 871.3 million new shares at HK$13.42 each, the closing price in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Holders can buy 56 new shares for every 500 they now own.

Fosun will use the money for “general corporate purposes including mergers and acquisitions in the banking and insurance industry and repayment of loans”, according to the filing.

The company has spent $5.7 billion acquiring insurance assets in the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as part of a shopping spree spanning Australian energy companies to New York City office buildings.

The deal to buy Ironshore was announced in May. In July, Fosun made a hostile $545.5 million offer for BHF Kleinwort Benson Group SA, and agreed to buy German private bank Hauck & Aufhaeuser Privatbankiers KGaA for as much as 210 million euros ($237 million).