PING AN PUTS NEW SHARE ISSUE ON HOLD

China’s second biggest life insurer Ping An Insurance has blamed “volatile capital markets” for its decision not to issue new domestic shares. In January the insurer unveiled a large capital raising exercise which would see it offer up to 1.2 billion local currency A shares and Yuan41.2bn in convertible bonds. But according to Reuters, Ping An revealed yesterday it would not be issuing new domestic shares for at least six months. It added it would take into account market conditions and investor sentiment before deciding when to move forward with an issue of convertible bonds.