Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings (QFH) and Shenzhen Investment Holdings Corp (SIHC), two government-owned investment firms, have agreed to buy ACR Capital Holdings Pte Ltd, the owner of Singapore's biggest reinsurance firm, for around US$1 billion.
The deal will allow ACR's shareholders including London-based private equity firm 3i Group, Malaysian state investor Khazanah Nasional, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp to exit.
3i Group will earn about US$231.6 million from the sale of its stake in ACR, it said in a separate statement on Wednesday, without specifying what its rate of return will be.
The transaction is expected to complete by early next year after receiving regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
"We look forward to utilising ACR's leading pan-Asian platform and professional underwriting capacity to promote other domestic and overseas reinsurance business," QFH chairman Li Qiang said in a statement.
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International was among a number of bidders for ACR Capital, the holding company of Asia Capital Reinsurance Group with operations in China, Japan and the Middle East.
Chinese companies have spent around US$7 billion on 11 outbound acquisitions of insurance companies since 2015, according to data compiled by Reuters.
ACR was established in 2006 with capital of around US$620 million. It is ranked among the world's top 50 reinsurers.