The Ming An (Holdings) Company Limited ("Ming An Holdings") was listed on the main board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the ¡§Exchange¡¨) on December 22, 2006. To cope with the business development and obtain the realization of synergies of the Group¡¦s business, the ultimate holding company of Ming An Holdings, China Taiping Insurance Group Co. ("TPG"), decided to privatize Ming An Holdings by way of a scheme of arrangement through its another listed company, China Taiping Insurance Holdings Company Limited (¡§CTIH¡¨). The scheme was sanctioned by the Grand Court of Cayman Islands on 30 October 2009. Ming An Holdings became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CTIH and withdrew the listing of the Company¡¦s shares on the Exchange on 2 November 2009 from 4:00 pm.
As a leading general insurance company headquartered in Hong Kong, Ming An Holdings and its subsidiaries (the "Group") provide a variety of general insurance products covering motor, property, liability, marine and accident & health to its customers in Hong Kong and Mainland China. China Taiping Insurance (HK) Company Limited (¡§CTPI(HK)¡¨, previously known as The Ming An Insurance Co. (H.K.) Ltd.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ming An Holdings, was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1949 and is a member of TPG. For the year ended December 31, 2010, the Group recorded a total gross written premiums of HK$2.739 billion, which increased by 22.7% as compared with 2009.
The Group started its Mainland China operations as early as 1982. In May 2004, CTPI(HK) obtained approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CIRC") to restructure its Shenzhen branch into a wholly owned subsidiary, The Ming An Insurance Company (China) Limited ("Ming An China"). We believe that, in May 2006, Ming An China became the first and only general insurance company incorporated in the PRC with foreign capital to receive approval from CIRC to be regulated as a domestic insurance company. In order to cope with the business development of TPG in PRC insurance market, CTPI(HK) proposed to dispose 100% equity interest of Ming An China through a public auction in September 2010 and have obtained all the requisite approvals for the disposal of the entire equity interest in Ming An China at the end of 2010.
