Ping An Life Insurance has once again increased its stake in China Life Insurance's H-shares, pushing its shareholding proportion beyond the 10% mark. The company recently announced that Ping An Asset Management, investing on behalf of Ping An Life Insurance, acquired China Life Insurance H-shares, reaching 10% of the H-share capital on February 3, triggering a mandatory disclosure under Hong Kong market rules.

From successively increasing stakes in China Pacific Insurance and China Life Insurance in 2025 to continuously purchasing H-shares of banks such as Agricultural Bank of China and China Merchants Bank, the Ping An group is accelerating the construction of a substantial portfolio of high-dividend financial assets in the Hong Kong stock market. Against the backdrop of low interest rates and a scarcity of quality assets, this rare phenomenon of "insurance capital investing in insurance companies" reflects leading insurers' strategic focus on asset-liability matching.

Guo Xiaotao, Executive Vice President and Co-CEO of Ping An, explained that the core of Ping An's investment strategy is asset-liability matching, emphasizing the need to align investments effectively with the company's liability structure.

This is not the first time the Ping An group has increased its stake in a peer company. As early as August 2025, Ping An funds successively raised their stakes in China Pacific Insurance H-shares and China Life Insurance H-shares. On August 11, 2025, according to a Hong Kong Exchange announcement, Ping An Life Insurance purchased approximately 1.74 million China Pacific Insurance H-shares at an average price of HK$32.0655 per share, bringing its total holding to 140 million shares, representing 5.04% of the H-share float and 1.46% of the total share capital, triggering a disclosure.

On August 12, 2025, Ping An funds purchased an additional 9.5 million China Life Insurance H-shares, increasing their holding to 5.04% of the H-shares and triggering another disclosure. Following the initial stake increase, Ping An funds continued buying, raising their shareholding in China Life Insurance H-shares from 5% to over 10%, triggering a further disclosure.

On August 26, 2025, Ping An Life Insurance acquired 12.683 million China Life Insurance H-shares. Two days later, it purchased another 44.095 million H-shares. Entering 2026, on January 22, Ping An Life Insurance bought 11.891 million China Life Insurance H-shares at an average price of HK$32.0553 per share, increasing its stake from 8.98% to 9.14%, nearing the 10% disclosure threshold. With further investment, Ping An's shareholding officially surpassed 10%. On February 2, Ping An funds purchased approximately 10.895 million China Life Insurance H-shares at about HK$33.2588 per share. After this acquisition, Ping An's holding reached approximately 10.12% of the H-share capital.

Analyst Zhang Kaifeng from Minsheng Securities noted that insurance capital increasing stakes in undervalued insurance stocks with declining liability costs, clear and stable corporate governance, sound business models, and improving dividends meets the intrinsic needs of insurance asset allocation. This strategy helps insurers achieve long-term stable returns, alleviate the asset shortage, and enhance long-term investment yields. Zhang added that this move also indicates that the long-term prospects and investment value of leading insurers are recognized by their peers. Following such disclosures, undervalued insurance stocks may attract more institutional capital, potentially leading to a revaluation.

Beyond investing in peers, Ping An Life Insurance has aggressively purchased H-shares of major state-owned banks, building a high-dividend financial asset pool in the Hong Kong market. Since 2025, Ping An Life Insurance has made 16 acquisitions of Agricultural Bank of China H-shares, 15 increases in China Merchants Bank H-shares, 12 additions to Postal Savings Bank of China H-shares, and two purchases of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China H-shares.

In its acquisitions of Agricultural Bank of China, Ping An Life Insurance's stake rose from 5% at the start of the year to 20.10%. By December 30, 2025, it held approximately 4.618 billion Agricultural Bank H-shares, representing 20.10% of the issued voting shares. Similarly, on December 31, 2025, its stake in China Merchants Bank H-shares reached 20%, triggering a disclosure. As of January 6, 2026, Ping An Life Insurance had increased its stake in Postal Savings Bank H-shares 12 times. On May 9, 2025, its holding exceeded 10% of the H-shares, constituting a second disclosure. On August 8, 2025, it surpassed 15%, marking a third disclosure. Currently, Ping An holds 3.18 billion Postal Savings Bank H-shares, accounting for 16.01% of the issued voting shares.

Following a similar pattern, from last year to the present, Ping An Life Insurance has increased its stake in China Merchants Bank H-shares 15 times, raising its holding from 5.01% to 19.13%. On March 13, 2025, its stake exceeded 10% and 15%, triggering the second and third disclosures, respectively.

Addressing market discussions on Ping An's frequent stake increases, company executives have publicly explained the underlying investment logic. Guo Xiaotao stated at Ping An's 2025 interim results presentation that the company's investment strategy should be understood holistically, focusing on asset-liability matching and how investments align with front-end liabilities.

Guo outlined Ping An's "three reliability" principle for investments, whether in peers or other industries: operational reliability, growth potential, and sustainable dividends. These criteria guide decisions on investing in and holding stocks long-term. Analyst Xu Kang from Huachuang Securities categorized insurance capital's motivations for stake increases into two types: one based on dividend yield, targeting stocks with stable future dividend cash flows as "quasi-fixed income" high-yield assets to hedge against declining interest rates; the other based on return on equity (ROE), favoring central state-owned enterprises with monopolistic positions and mature profit models for long-term equity investments.