After 13 years, the "final piece" is secured, and the foreign capital "Starr Group" is about to fully acquire the property and casualty insurance license

Four months have passed, and the "Starr Group" has finally obtained the last piece of the puzzle for full ownership of Starr Property & Casualty Insurance.

In August, Shanghai Jinjiang International Investment Management (hereinafter referred to as "Jinjiang Investment") cleared its 0.78% stake in Starr Property & Casualty Insurance for 28 million yuan on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

At that time, the announcement indicated that "whether the original shareholders waive their preemptive rights" was marked as "some do not waive."

On December 16, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance disclosed that the equity had been transferred to the original shareholder, Starr Compensation and Liability Insurance Company (hereinafter referred to as "Starr Compensation"), which holds 79.22% of the shares.

After regulatory approval, the "Starr Group" will complete its full acquisition of Starr Property & Casualty Insurance, making it the third insurance company at this stage to transition from a Chinese or joint venture to a wholly foreign-owned enterprise.

Looking at the longer term, the "Starr Group's" pursuit of full ownership has shown signs.

With the pressure on insurance companies' performance in recent years, the withdrawal of central and state-owned enterprise shareholders, and the relaxation of regulatory policies, many insurance companies' equity has flowed to foreign institutions that are optimistic about the Chinese market and have more experience in insurance operations.

Starr Property & Casualty Insurance is a typical example.

In 1995, Shanghai International Group and 18 other Chinese enterprises jointly established Dazhong Insurance.

In subsequent developments, Dazhong Insurance fell into the dilemma of "increasing revenue without increasing profit," accumulating losses of 860 million yuan from 2003 to 2010.

In 2011, Starr International, led by the "father of global insurance" Maurice, became the largest shareholder of Dazhong Insurance through private placements via two subsidiaries, subsequently gaining actual control and renaming it "Starr Property & Casualty Insurance."

Since then, the "Starr Group" has continued to acquire minority shareholders' equity, raising its stake to 99.22% in 2021, just one step away from full ownership.

The 0.78% stake held by Jinjiang Investment is the last piece of the puzzle.

As early as 2022, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance Chairman Dong Ying revealed in an interview that "the group has not yet negotiated the transfer with Jinjiang and does not rule out the plan for full ownership."

By the end of 2024, this 13-year acquisition will finally come to a close.

Currently, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance has completed a business transformation marked by the "Starr Group."

In 2014, when the "Starr Group" gained actual control, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance shifted its focus from auto insurance during the Dazhong Insurance era to non-auto business, suspending auto insurance operations outside Shanghai in 2015 and fully exiting the auto insurance market in 2016.

While "breaking down" its business, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance began to dismantle its three-tiered institutions and marketing service departments, even cutting four provincial branches in 2022 and actively giving up business in Suzhou, Fujian, Anhui, and Ningbo.

In terms of performance, Starr Property & Casualty Insurance has emerged from the transitional period of business switching From 2014 to 2016, when the auto insurance business gradually exited, its revenue declined for three consecutive years; however, it basically resumed growth over the five years starting from 2017.

Nevertheless, from 2021 to 2023, there was also a continuous three-year decline in revenue; from 2017 to 2022, there was a continuous five-year decline in net profit attributable to the parent company.

Currently, there is a trend of recovery in the performance of Shidai Property & Casualty Insurance.

In the first three quarters, Shidai Property & Casualty Insurance's insurance business revenue was 794 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.58%, achieving a net profit of 35 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 267.71%