(Bloomberg) -- Shenzhen Qianhai Financial Holdings Co. is close to an agreement to buy ACR Capital Holdings Pte, a reinsurer backed by Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte, for about $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
A deal may be announced as soon as Wednesday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. The agreement would be subject to regulatory approvals, including from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, they said.
Chinese buyers have stepped up purchases of assets abroad as domestic demand for short-term insurance policies soars. Led by Fosun International Ltd. and Anbang Insurance Group Co., mainland firms have announced overseas acquisitions of insurance companies totaling $10.7 billion since the beginning of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A spokeswoman for ACR declined to comment in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg queries, while a representative for Shenzhen Qianhai said the company had no immediate comment.
Singapore-based ACR, led by Chief Executive Officer Hans-Peter Gerhardt, was established in 2006. Besides Temasek, the state investment firm, ACR's major shareholders include Marubeni Corp., 3i Group Plc and Khazanah Nasional Bhd., according to its website. Its unit Asia Capital Reinsurance Group Pte serves clients in Asia from China to the Middle East, across business lines from property and marine to medical and agriculture.
--With assistance from Alfred Liu To contact the reporters on this story: Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net, Jonathan Browning in Hong Kong at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert, Darren Boey
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