SUNSHINE INS's journey began in 2005 with the establishment of its property and casualty insurance arm. As its operations expanded, the holding company was formed in 2007, marking its evolution from a single insurer to a diversified group. The following year, it was renamed SUNSHINE INS Group, successfully positioning itself among the top insurance groups in China. Its subsidiaries, including property and casualty, life insurance, and asset management companies, were subsequently established, building a comprehensive financial framework.

However, during this critical period of strategic transformation, SUNSHINE INS has drawn significant attention for acquiring real estate assets from entities like Wanda, presenting a complex picture of simultaneously reducing real estate exposure while making counter-cyclical investments.

01 Real Estate Portfolio Restructuring Financial reports show that by the end of 2025, SUNSHINE INS's investment property holdings stood at 9.274 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%. Investment properties and equipment amounted to 18.496 billion yuan, down 2.55% year-on-year, indicating a clear contraction in on-balance-sheet real estate assets.

Correspondingly, the company has shifted towards lighter asset models such as equity acquisitions and real estate funds. In May 2025, it partnered with PAG to acquire 48 Wanda Plaza properties. In December 2025, through a fund partnership, it acquired the Hangzhou Binjiang Baolongcheng shopping mall and its supporting hotel for 1 billion yuan. These off-balance-sheet investments continue its deployment in core urban commercial real estate, achieving a structural shift characterized by "on-balance-sheet contraction and off-balance-sheet expansion."

It is important to note that this strategy is not solely focused on commercial real estate. The company has also initiated a synergistic "asset + service" layout in the healthcare and elderly care sectors.

Revenue from these related businesses is consolidated under the "Other" category in financial reports. In 2025, this segment contributed approximately 2.878 billion yuan in revenue, accounting for only 3% of total revenue. However, with its structure continuously optimized, it has become a significant foundation for the company's second growth curve.

The health and elderly care ecosystem is the core focus of SUNSHINE INS's increased off-balance-sheet real estate investments. In 2025, the accelerated launch of two major projects propelled the business into a phase of simultaneous ecosystem development and asset-light expansion.

On one hand, the Shanghai Sheshan Sunshine Home elderly care community has fully commenced operations. It integrates resources from 12 strategic partners and green channel access to 35 top-tier hospitals, breaking away from the traditional single elderly care model and achieving an ecosystem upgrade that combines medical care with elderly support and cross-sector integration.

On the other hand, the Jiangsu Silver Industry Park project, with an investment of 1.5 billion yuan, adopts an asset-light model combined with industrial operation. Insurance capital is primarily used for funding and product对接, while operations are entrusted to professional teams, significantly alleviating the pressure of heavy assets.

The medical and hotel sectors provide solid support for the overall strategy. SUNSHINE Ronghe Hospital, a core medical pillar, reported revenue of 765 million yuan in 2025, a 16% year-on-year decrease, influenced by DRG/DIP payment reforms and broader industry trends, with its fluctuations aligning with market movements.

The hotel business, encompassing properties in Sanya and overseas locations, contributed stable revenue of 1.178 billion yuan for the year, providing consistent cash flow to the real estate segment.

Overall, SUNSHINE INS has completed a transition from traditional commercial real estate to a real estate ecosystem centered on health and elderly care, supported by medical services, and underpinned by hotel operations. The effects of its off-balance-sheet, asset-light expansion are gradually becoming apparent.

However, while this restructuring aligns with the broader industry trend of insurance capital investing in real estate, it has sparked considerable internal debate.

Proponents argue that exiting heavy-asset businesses can optimize the asset-liability structure and reduce cyclical volatility risks. Critics, however, point out that the asset-light, fund-based approach requires high upfront investment costs and leads to extended payback periods, which contradicts the core need of insurance capital for stable cash flow and liability duration matching.

Clearly, differing views within the investment sector regarding the input-output efficiency and capital recovery pace of this "retreat from heavy assets, advance into light assets" strategy constitute the first major hurdle in its strategic implementation.

02 Operational Concerns While debates over the real estate restructuring continue, mounting operational pressures have also come to the forefront.

First, the complete suspension of high-risk insurance business has become a "black hole" for the property and casualty segment. By the end of 2025, the comprehensive cost ratio for SUNSHINE INS's surety bond insurance had risen to 129%, with losses for this single line of business reaching as high as 1.513 billion yuan. Consequently, the entire property and casualty business reported an underwriting loss of 1.03 billion yuan.

Starting in 2026, the company ceased adding new financing-related surety bond business. The significant adjustment of related business lines, staff reassignments, and the inability to fill performance gaps have increased pressure within the department.

Furthermore, growth divergence among traditional business lines has become more severe, with property and casualty insurance clearly "falling behind." By 2025, SUNSHINE INS's property and casualty original insurance business revenue was 47.89 billion yuan, with a mere 0.1% year-on-year growth. However, its net profit decreased by 49% year-on-year, transforming it from a core pillar at the group's listing to a growth短板.

Although the life insurance business has surpassed the 100-billion-yuan mark, its growth rate is gradually slowing. It exhibits high dependence on bancassurance channels, faces difficulties in transforming its agency channel, and harbors concerns regarding the quality of its growth.

Finally, frontline sales teams face issues with stability and high turnover. To alleviate performance pressure, the company has tightened assessment standards for frontline sales personnel, increasing the weight of metrics such as new policies, renewals, and value rate. This has led to unstable income for agents and a consequent rise in team attrition rates. Business contraction, slowing growth, and stricter assessments have formed a vicious cycle, further exacerbating negative sentiment within business lines.

Thus, for this insurance group once known for its impressive "SUNSHINE INS speed," its current transformation path is filled with struggle and relentless pursuit of a new direction.