GIC to invest US$100m in Ping An's Good Doctor US$1.1b IPO

Hong Kong

PING An Good Doctor, a unit of China's biggest insurer by market value, has attracted cornerstone investors such as GIC and Khazanah Nasional Bhd to a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise as much as US$1.1 billion.

The Chinese online health-care platform is offering about 160 million shares at HK$50.80 to HK$54.80 apiece (between S$8.58 and S$9.25), according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg. The Ping An Insurance (Group) Co subsidiary will take investor orders from Monday through Thursday, the terms show.

Ping An Insurance is preparing listings for its technology units after shares of the insurer have risen more than 90 per cent over the past 12 months, giving it a market value of about US$188 billion. Its OneConnect financial management portal has picked banks for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise as much as US$3 billion, people familiar with the matter said in March.

Seven cornerstone investors have agreed to buy about US$550 million of stock in the Good Doctor offering, according to the terms. BlackRock Inc will invest about US$125 million, while Singapore sovereign fund GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board each agreed to purchase US$100 million of shares.

Khazanah, Swiss Re AG, US asset manager Capital Group Cos and a unit of Thailand's CP Group are also buying stock in the offering. The cornerstone investors agreed to keep their holdings for six months in return for early, guaranteed allocations.

Good Doctor, formally known as Ping An Healthcare & Technology Co, aims to price the offering on Thursday US Eastern time and begin trading May 4, the terms show. Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co are joint sponsors of the offering.

The operator of China's largest Internet healthcare platform in terms of users and daily online consultations said proceeds from the IPO would also be used to fund acquisitions and strategic alliances as well as for research.

Ping An Healthcare, in which Ping An Insurance will hold 39.27 per cent on completion of the global offering, delivers on-demand healthcare through its mobile platform, including online family doctors, healthcare and health mall services.

It has established a nationwide network of healthcare service providers covering 3,100 hospitals, 1,100 health check-up centres, 500 dental clinics and 7,500 pharmacy outlets.

Underlying strong demand for the issue has provided solid support to the Hong Kong dollar, pushing the currency up to 7.8425 per US dollar, its strongest in five weeks. BLOOMBERG