Hong Kong Public Offering of Leading PRC Insurance Group Opens

(HONG KONG, June 13, 2004) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ( Ping An or the Company ), a leading insurance group in the PRC with the capability to provide multiple financial services and products, today announced details of its listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
Ping An will offer 1,387,892,000 shares under the Global Offering, comprising 1,318,497,000 shares under the International Offering in the form of H-shares or ADSs and 69,395,000 H shares under the Hong Kong Public Offering. The maximum offer price to be paid by investors under the Hong Kong Public Offering will be HK$11.88 per share (excluding 1.012% of the offer price for a brokerage fee, a trading fee imposed by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and an investor compensation levy and a transaction levy imposed by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong).
The share allocation between the Hong Kong Public Offering and the International Offering will be subject to a clawback mechanism, which is driven by the subscription response in the Hong Kong tranche. The Company and the Selling Shareholders may also be required to issue and sell an aggregate of up to 208,183,000 additional shares upon the exercise of the over-allotment option.
Dr. Peter Ma Mingzhe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ping An, said, Ping An s success to date has been driven by our vision to become one of the leading multiple financial services providers in the world. Based on our core insurance franchise, we aim to provide a broad range of financial products and services to our customers and to consistently deliver stable profit growth and healthy shareholder returns. Our corporate culture is focused on effective adoption of international practices, innovation, and sound corporate governance.
He said Ping An has built an experienced and strong management team that combines international expertise with local knowledge of the PRC insurance industry. The Ping An brand is among the most-recognized in the PRC and the Company s strong multi-channel distribution network gives it a distinct competitive advantage. Ping An has also established a strong investment management capability and a leading unified information technology system.
The Company was the first major PRC insurance company to engage an international accounting firm as external independent auditors and has since 1995 also engaged an international actuarial consulting firm to conduct independent reviews of policyholders reserves. Following HSBC Insurance s investment in Ping An in 2002, the Company has further improved internal controls, agent monitoring and supervision and risk management.
We are confident that we can build on our strong market position in the face of a competitive market by developing product offerings that are profitable and tailored to the needs of our customers, as well as by leveraging our nationwide call center and centralized customer database to increase cross-selling in a cost-effective manner , Dr. Ma said.
As the second largest life insurance provider and the third largest property and casualty insurer in terms of market share in the PRC in 2002, Ping An is well-positioned to pursue continued profitable growth and to capture the opportunities presented by the substantial potential of the PRC market. The Company recorded a net profit of RMB2.017 billion for the year ended December 31, in 2002, followed by RMB2.32 billion for the same period in 2003, a growth of approximately 15%. The Company forecasts that for the year ending December 31, 2004, profit after taxation and minority interests but before extraordinary items will be not less than RMB2.76 billion, an increase of 18.97% as compared to the net profit attributable to shareholders in 2003. Total assets as of end of 2003 were RMB203.5 billion, an increase of 25.1% over the same period in 2002.
The Company recorded solid growth in its customer numbers. As of end of 2003, the number of individual customers for the life insurance business increased to approximately 26.88 million from 21.21 million for the same period in 2002, representing a growth of 26.68%, and increased to 3.933 million individual customers for the property and casualty insurance business from 3.546 million a year ago, representing a growth of 10.91%.
With its quality customer base, Ping An enjoys remarkable persistency. The 13-month and 25-month persistency ratios for the individual life insurance customers as of end of 2003 were 85.7% and 79.6% respectively, contributing to the Company s long-term profitability.
Assuming that the over-allotment option is not exercised, Ping An is expected to raise approximately HK$12.867 billion in net proceeds, which will be used for general corporate purposes, improvement of business operations, and upgrading of information technology systems.
The Hong Kong Public Offering will open on June 14, 2004 (Monday) and close at noon on June 17, 2004 (Thursday). Dealing of the shares is expected to commence on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on June 24, 2004.
Application forms and copies of the prospectus, in English and Chinese, will be available for collection from 9:00 am on Monday, June 14, 2004 at selected branches of HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Bank of East Asia, as well as participating retail brokers.
BOC International Holdings Limited, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Asia Limited (in alphabetical order) are the Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners for this global offering.