New York Insurance

 SHENZHEN, China - Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. ‘S 50% stake in the brand Fortis Investments is mentioned for the first time a Chinese financial institution, half of a global fund to the management company.

It is a general rule, conversely, analysts and other experts said.

The transaction, if the latter, is also a strong testament to the will of the nation, the second life insurer on the road to society is an aggressive offensive third in asset management, analysts and other sources said . Fortis Investments has more than € 245 million ($ 387 billion) in assets under management, about half of which is managed on behalf of institutional clients. Ping An, 475 billion yuan ($ 68 billion) and In-house-assets under management of the company, the annual report 2007.

“This will increasingly in the opposite direction, you see, as a general rule, Western (financial institutions) to buy a stake of China’s asset management companies,” said Donald A . Marchand, a professor of strategy and information management at IMD, a World Business School, which has its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Mr. Marchand is the co-author of a case study on Ping An, and is compatible with the proposed Deal.

“Well, because the overwhelming feedback (Chinese financial institutions) are able to move these very bold,” says Marchand. “I believe that within five to seven years, some of these players are rewriting the rules of the game”.

Earlier this month, Fortis Investments - The Asset Management Division, a subsidiary of the company based in Brussels, Fortis SA / NV - announced a preliminary agreement on the sale of 50% of a ping to € 2.15 billion. The transaction is a new company called Fortis Investments and Ping An Ping An hand, five seats on a board of 12 people. Senior management and business strategy at Fortis Investments was unchanged.

Fortis CEO Richard Wohanka interviewed be rejected. Melanie Dunn spokesman said in an email response: “Our partnership with Ping An us is unique with rapid access to the growing demand from China and Asian markets. As such, it will be more to ‘multiplier effect of ping well-established brands and distribution skills to the benefit of our customers. Ping An currently has nearly 40 million customers and nearly 2 million customers. ”

“A ping Fortis Investments is obviously happy to exploit this potential in the retail sector, but also institutional client base,” said Dunn.

Ping, a company also denied officials interviewed for this article spokesman about the company Shan Liew Hock.

The move was on the heels of Fortis’ announcement of a write-down before deduction of € 2.4 billion from its Subprime investments in 2007, according to the activity report of the company.

The proposed price for relations with a ping is considerably below the 24 billion € the fare paid by Fortis 33.8% of ABN AMRO, negotiation, before the credit crunch that is in the last summer.

Fortis was part of a consortium, including from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA, Madrid, Spain, has allowed the victory in the War of 2007 against the commandments Barclays PLC, to acquire ABN AMRO Holding NV. Fortis hands, the global network of asset management and Consumer Affairs of the Dutch bank ABN-AMRO units. In the wake of Fortis Investments’ assets under management have increased by 245 billion € 133 billion € over the world. In November 2007, whereby the majority of the shareholders of ABN AMRO, the transaction is approved, Ping An increased felt to € 1.8 billion for the acquisition of a 4.18% participation in Fortis.

Several of ABN AMRO Asset Management is a specialist units - including Monday & Caldwell Inc., Atlanta; Artemis Investment Management Ltd, and Edinburgh International Asset Management in London - to continue to operate separately from Fortis Investments and is not in the transaction with a ping.

Although the price of one ping is relatively low compared to the Fortis / ABN AMRO transaction, analysts question whether perhaps a ping paid too.

“On the basis of provisional information, the price offered is about 17 times or 18 times (commodity prices), the report, what I think, does not seem very attractive in light of current market conditions,” said Xia olive, analyst at Core Pacific - Yamaichi (HK) Ltd, which is based in Shanghai, said Ping An

However, Mrs. Xia, and other analysts Applause ping A bold, in order to facilitate access of Fortis Investments’ Money Management expertise and global reach, which spans more than 30 countries.

“A ping is a pioneer in this area,” said Xia, “no other (financial institutions) as a big step.”

A ping also open to plans for Fortis Investments’ know-how to offer Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor-means by which domestic investors access to markets overseas, “said the adviser. QDII While many funds poorly in the past few months through the volatility of the global markets of shares, analysts expect more and more Chinese investors overseas to diversify their portfolios using the equity in the coming years.