The sale of Hong Kong Life Insurance has been pulled after the prospective buyer failed to meet closing conditions.
The five owners of Hong Kong Life agreed to sell their stakes to local investment firm First Origin International in March 2017 for a total consideration of HK$7.1bn (£695.8m, $906.8m, €781.4m).
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) subsidiary Wing Hang Bank is the largest shareholder with 33.33%.
The remaining four firms are Asia Insurance Co, Shanghai Commercial Bank, Chong Hong Bank and Wing Lung Bank, which hold around 16.7% each.
The deal was expected to conclude on 20 March 2018, but was extended by just over six months to 30 September.
Forfeited deposit
On 1 October, OCBC Wing Hang Bank confirmed that, “together with the other sellers, [it has] terminated the sale in accordance with the terms of the share sale agreement on the basis that the closing conditions have not been satisfied”.
As a result, the deposit of HK$710m paid by First Origin International has “been forfeited in favour of the sellers”.
No details were provided about what conditions had not been met.
At the time the deal was announced, newswire Reuters wrote that Hong Kong Life Insurance is one of the last remaining independent life businesses in the special administrative region.
