Ping An continues to acquire peers, can it increase its holdings in China Life H shares to nearly 10%?

In Ping An's "shopping cart," the weight of financial peers is becoming increasingly heavy.

On January 27, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that Ping An Life increased its holdings of China Life's 11.891 million H-shares at an average price of HKD 32.0553 per share on January 22, involving approximately HKD 381 million;

After the increase, Ping An's holdings in China Life's H-shares rose to 681 million shares, with the proportion increasing from 8.98% to 9.14%.

This is not the first time Ping An has taken action against this "big brother."

As early as August 2025, Ping An had reached the 5% threshold for China Life's H-shares;

At that time, Ping An's funds made consecutive bids for China Pacific Insurance's H-shares and China Life's H-shares within just two days, causing a sensation in the market; six months later, Ping An's shareholding ratio climbed from 5% to over 9% now, with decisive and frequent increases.

Looking at the bigger picture, this is just a corner of Ping An's vast "shopping" landscape;

Since 2025, Ping An has started buying in the Hong Kong stock market, not only locking in insurance peers but also intensively increasing holdings in state-owned banks' H-shares;

Just earlier this month, Ping An completed its fourth bid for Agricultural Bank of China's H-shares, with the shareholding ratio exceeding 20%, and the shareholding ratio for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's H-shares also rose from 14% to over 17% in just a few months;

Along with China Merchants Bank, Postal Savings Bank, and HSBC Holdings, Ping An has built a large pool of high-dividend financial assets through channels such as Ping An Asset Management.

The logic behind Ping An's increase in China Life is very clear—during the long cycle of declining interest rates, the liability side of insurance funds faces enormous rigid cost pressures and must seek sufficiently large and stable assets to match.

The H-share financial sector perfectly fits these needs:

On one hand, compared to A-shares, H-share financial stocks have long been at a discount, providing a very high margin of safety;

On the other hand, under the new IFRS 9 accounting standards, including these high-dividend stocks in FVOCI (financial assets measured at fair value with changes recognized in other comprehensive income) not only enhances profits through dividends but also avoids the impact of stock price fluctuations on current net profits, achieving smoother performance.

For Ping An, buying China Life or China Pacific Insurance is also a "vote" on the fundamentals of the industry;

As the institution that understands the value of insurance companies best in the industry, Ping An's large-scale purchases, to some extent, reflect its belief that the current valuations of insurance stocks have been excessively compressed and possess long-term allocation value.

Ping An's co-CEO Guo Xiaotao has summarized the investment principles as "three can": reliable operation, expected growth, and sustainable dividends;

Clearly, whether as the "king of retail" China Merchants Bank or as the "leading goose" China Life, both are exemplary students of this standard.

As "asset scarcity" becomes the norm, insurance giants with abundant cash flow are reshaping the pricing power of the Hong Kong financial sector.

For Ping An, this is not just a simple increase in holdings, but a solid moat built for navigating the cycle in a low-interest-rate era