China Ping An Company spends 2.4 billion to buy Lloyd's Building in the UK

Robert Manning, a member of the First Pacific Davis London Center team, said in an interview with China Securities Journal on the 8th that Ping An bought the Lloyd Building from a real estate closed-end fund company owned by a German commercial bank. The price is 260 million pounds, about 2.4 billion yuan, becoming the first insurance company to "snap the bottom" overseas real estate. China Ping An related company stocks did not give a clear reply to the news. It only indicated that the asset management business is one of Ping An’s main business operations, including domestic and overseas investment and management of insurance funds or third-party funds, but not for specific investment projects. For comment.

Manning revealed that Lloyd's Building was bought by German buyers in 231 million pounds in 2005. Ping An's purchase of Lloyd's Building was for real estate investment. After the completion of the acquisition, the company operating in Lloyd's Building was not affected, and the lease of the famous insurance institution Lloyd's Insurance Group in the UK ended in 2031. The building is one of the iconic buildings of the City of London, with an annual rent of £16 million.

According to the “Implementation Rules for the Interim Measures for the Administration of Overseas Investment of Insurance Funds” issued by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission in October last year, insurance funds can be invested in the core areas of major cities in more than 20 developed markets such as Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with stable income. Mature commercial and office real estate. The relevant person in charge of Ping An has previously stated that it will carry out a certain amount of overseas asset allocation. Analysts in the industry believe that after this round of financial crisis, many insurance companies have the intention to go abroad to “snap the bottom” real estate, but not all insurance companies have sufficient vision and risk control capabilities, and the project selection needs to be carefully considered.