China Life Buys 2 Billion Freshly Minted Shares in Bad-Asset Manager Huarong

What’s new: China Life Insurance (Group) Co. has acquired 1.96 billion newly issued Hong Kong-listed shares in China Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd., acting on a government-backed plan to save the indebted bad-asset manager.

The state-owned insurer now controls 7.29% of Huarong’s Hong Kong-listed shares after the purchase on Nov. 17, a notice published by China Life on Wednesday shows.

The purchase happened on the same day when Huarong reached deals with five strategic and financial investors, including China Life, to sell them newly issued shares worth 42 billion yuan ($6.6 billion). If all the deals go through, China Life will control a 2.44% stake in Huarong.