Ping An Insurance, a major Chinese insurer, has acquired a 50-percent stake in the Belgian-Dutch financial services provider Fortis' asset management unit, Fortis Investments, for 2.15 billion euros (24.02 billion yuan).

Ping An and Fortis officially signed the final agreement in the south China city of Shenzhen to formally establish a global asset management partnership.

Ping An said the deal would significantly advance its strategy to establish a global asset management business and a qualified domestic institutional investor or QDII.

Fortis group chief executive Jean-Paul Votron said Fortis and Ping An shared a common strategic approach that included global ambitions. The combination of the two strong brands with the same strategic aims would bring significant added value to both sides.

Shenzhen-based Ping An bought 4.18 percent of Fortis group for 1.81 billion euros in November last year, later increasing the stake to 4.99percent. The purchase, through the stock markets, made Ping An the biggest single shareholder of Fortis.

The final agreement confirms the principal terms set out in the memorandum of understanding, which was signed in March. Fortis Investments will be re-named Fortis-Ping An Investment Management Group Holdings Ltd..

Fortis hired Merrill Lynch to advise on the sale of a stake in the unit, while JP Morgan is representing Ping An.

Fortis, based in Brussels and the Dutch city of Utrecht, is an international provider of banking and insurance services to personal, business and institutional customers.

Ping An Insurance's net profit jumped 140 percent last year on record premium revenues. Net income hit 18.7 billion yuan under international accounting standards.

"The deal marks a closer cooperation between Ping An and Fortis. Ping An is to take the good opportunity establish the global asset management platform, and to become a world leading asset management company," said chief executive Ma Zheming.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2008)