CHINA LIFE INSURANCE DENIES IPO PLANS

China’s largest life insurer China Life has ruled out any plans for its parent company and majority owner to pursue an initial public offering, thus dismissing weekend news reports to the contrary. The Economic Observer had reported that the parent company China Life Insurance was preparing for a listing of its entire organisation on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and was seeking strategic investors. The parent company owns a controlling stake in China Life, which found its shares suspended on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges as a result of the report. The parent company was then forced to issue a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange to clarify its position and deny the newspaper’s claims. “China Life Insurance has no plan to list its whole operation currently, nor does it have any timetable,” read the statement.