Jiang Tai Re will focus on reinsurance and specialty lines
Gallagher has entered the Chinese market after taking a 24.9% stake in a new venture with the country’s third largest broker.
The joint venture with Shanghai-based Jiang Tai, Jiang Tai Re, will focus on reinsurance and specialty lines when it launches in the first half of next year.
It will start with a 25-strong team of technical professionals led by Jiang Tai president Frank Lu.
Gallagher said it understood Jiang Tai Re to be the first joint venture insurance broker launched in the China pilot free trade zone.
Gallagher international commercial director Vyvienne Wade said Gallagher’s international strategy was to introduce its expertise and capabilities into stable and emerging economies.
“And the opportunity rarely gets larger or more rapidly emerging than China,” she said.
“But we were only prepared to take this ambitious step with the right partner. As one of China’s largest insurance brokers with a formidable reputation, incredibly strong client relationships and cultural values aligned to our own, Jiang Tai was the natural choice.”
Jiang Tai will own 51% of the joint venture while the remaining 24.1% will be owned by Jiang Tai Universal Investment Management Associates.
Terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, were not disclosed.
Jiang Tai chairman Shen said: “This is an investment we have been planning for some time and it has been of critical importance to choose a partner that has a strong cultural fit with our own.
“Our delegation has spent a lot of time with the teams at Arthur J Gallagher, both at the company’s international division base in London and its global headquarters in the US, which clearly showed our two organisations enjoy the same ethos and share the same values. We look forward to a strong and successful partnership as Jiang Tai Re.”
Jiang Tai is majority owned by Chinese state-owned companies and government. It has 45 branches and over 1,600 employees.
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