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Insurance capital stake acquisitions have added another case. On September 29, New China Life Insurance announced that on September 22, it increased its holdings of 16.876 million unrestricted tradable shares of AVIC Jonhon Optronic Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "AVIC Jonhon") through centralized bidding transactions in the secondary market, accounting for approximately 0.27% of the total issued H-shares of the listed company.

Before this equity change, New China Life Insurance held 304 million H-shares of AVIC Jonhon, approximately 4.89% of the listed company's total H-shares. After this equity change, New China Life Insurance collectively holds 321 million H-shares of AVIC Jonhon, approximately 5.17% of the listed company's H-share capital, triggering a stake acquisition disclosure. AVIC Jonhon's H-shares closed up 4.19% on September 30, following a 4.02% gain on the previous trading day.

According to statistics, as of September 30, a total of 5 insurance companies have acquired stakes in listed companies 8 times this year, while in the same period last year, 13 insurance companies made 31 stake acquisitions. The frequency of insurance capital stake acquisitions in the secondary market has clearly cooled.

New China Life Insurance's sixth stake acquisition

Insurance company stake acquisitions in listed companies refer to the act where an insurance company holds, together with its affiliates and parties acting in concert, 5% of the issued shares of a listed company, and upon each subsequent 5% increase, notifies the listed company and makes a public announcement within 3 days in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

New China Life Insurance stated that according to relevant regulations, the investment in AVIC Jonhon is intended to be included in equity investment management. As of September 22, New China Life Insurance's book balance of AVIC Jonhon holdings totaled 822 million yuan, accounting for 0.04% of the company's total assets at the end of the previous quarter, complying with regulatory requirements. As of the end of June 2026, New China Life Insurance's equity asset book balance was 440.275 billion yuan, accounting for 24.34% of the company's total assets at the end of the previous quarter.

Public information shows that AVIC Jonhon was registered and established in Beijing on April 30, 2003, with a registered capital of 4.6 billion yuan, and its parent company is Aviation Industry Corporation of China. On October 30, 2003, AVIC Jonhon was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making it the only aviation high-tech industry group in the Hong Kong capital market.

A review by the reporter found that this is New China Life Insurance's sixth stake acquisition and its first this year. Looking back at past investment actions, in January 2025, New China Life Insurance acquired 330 million shares of Bank of Hangzhou held by Commonwealth Bank of Australia through negotiated transfer at a transaction price of 13.095 yuan per share. After this equity change, New China Life Insurance directly held 357 million shares of Bank of Hangzhou, accounting for 5.87% of the bank's total ordinary shares.

Subsequently, in April, New China Life Insurance increased its holdings of 150,000 unrestricted tradable shares of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited, listed in Hong Kong, through centralized bidding transactions in the secondary market. After the increase, New China Life Insurance held 62.9385 million Hong Kong ordinary shares of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited, approximately 5% of the listed company's total share capital. Even earlier, in the fourth quarter of 2024, New China Life Insurance successively acquired stakes in Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, Sinopharm Group, Haitong Securities H-shares, and other targets.

Xu Kang, head of financial industry research and chief analyst at Huachuang Securities, analyzed that insurance capital stake acquisition demands can be mainly divided into two categories: one is based on dividend yield considerations, with stake acquisition behavior favoring targets with relatively stable future dividend cash flow expectations, namely mining "fixed-income-like" high-yield targets as a path to resist interest rate decline risks; the other is based on ROE (return on equity) considerations, with stake acquisition behavior favoring central and state-owned enterprises with certain industry monopoly positions and relatively mature profit models, incorporating high-quality targets through long-term equity investment.

Insurance capital stake acquisition pace slows down

From an industry-wide perspective, the pace of insurance capital stake acquisitions in the secondary market has significantly slowed this year. According to statistics from announcements on the official website of the Insurance Association of China, as of September 30, only 5 insurance companies this year — Ping An Life Insurance, CPIC Life Insurance, Funde Property Insurance, Lian Life Insurance, and New China Life Insurance — have collectively made 8 stake acquisitions in listed companies. In the same period of 2025, 13 insurance companies made 31 stake acquisitions.

In this regard, analysts believe that insurance capital's layout strategy in the capital market is shifting from "secondary market stake acquisitions" to "primary-half/IPO lock-up price allocation for shares," with the role transitioning from "financial investor" to "strategic investor," and the investment direction extending from high-yield bank and infrastructure stocks to hard tech and other new quality productivity enterprises.

According to their analysis, this shift is driven by both subjective and objective factors: from a subjective perspective, insurance companies are transforming toward floating-income products on the liability side, reducing short-term rigid requirements for returns, and insurance capital is more patient in early-stage investment and waiting for listing opportunities to obtain more long-term returns. At the same time, the IPO lock-up price strategic placement strategy can also classify investments as FVOCI (financial assets measured at fair value through other comprehensive income), helping reduce profit volatility. From an objective perspective, the implementation of long-cycle regulatory assessments, the opening of listing channels for high-tech enterprises, and the transparent and standardized rules for Hong Kong IPO cornerstone investments all provide good institutional and regulatory conditions for insurance capital to adjust its market entry strategy.