Zhongan Online P&C Insurance Co. scrapped plans for an initial public offering in Hong Kong or the U.S. and is instead focusing on a listing in mainland China, people familiar with the matter said.
Lukewarm overseas interest and an attempt to avoid competing with a possible offering from major shareholder Ant Financial has prompted the insurer to consider listing in China instead, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. Zhongan Online, which has more than 400 million customers, said in August that it was targeting an IPO in either Hong Kong or the U.S. as early as 2017.
Backed by Ant Financial, owner of Alipay, and Tencent Holdings Ltd., Zhongan works with internet companies to provide policies for China’s younger users in the automotive, health care and online shopping sectors. The company operates in an online insurance market that is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan ($300 billion) by 2025, a 10-fold increase from last year, according to Shanghai-based consultant IResearch.
Cathy Luo, a spokeswoman for Zhongan, said by phone that the company has always had an IPO plan, though it hasn’t committed to any timeline or venue, declining to comment…