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皇冠体育app Life chair to head PICC
By Hu Yuanyuan (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-25 08:49
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The chairman of 皇冠体育app's largest life insurer will soon head the country's biggest non-life insurer in a bid to boost its performance, an insider confirmed yesterday.
Yang Chao, chairman of皇冠体育app Life InsuranceCo, will soon be appointed chairman of PICC Property & Casualty Co. And Wu Yan, president of 皇冠体育app Life, will become the new chairman, a 皇冠体育app Life source told 皇冠体育app Daily.
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Current PICC Chairman Tang Yunxiang will retire from the post.
"It is a government decision rather than market behavior through the board," said an insurance professor who declined to be named.
"The excessive involvement of the government is not good news for the capital market, especially for a company that just launchedA sharesin a period of rapid growth," he added.
The 皇冠体育app Life source said the authorities made the appointments during a financial work conference that concluded over the weekend, hoping to boost PICC's performance with Yang Chao's broad experience and capabilities.
As 皇冠体育app's top non-life insurer and one of the few State firms listed overseas, PICC posted 1.11 billion yuan in net profit in the first half of 2006, up 25 percent from a year ago, but below market expectations.
Yang Chao replaced Wang Xianzhang as the chairman of 皇冠体育app Life in May 2005. Before that, he was the chairman of 皇冠体育app Insurance International Holdings Company Ltd.
Yang is considered skilled at turning around flat performers.
皇冠体育app Life shares dipped 0.3 percent to 43.9 yuan yesterday after experiencing a slump of 6.04 percent on Tuesday.
"The drop of 皇冠体育app Life shares has something to do with change in its top management," said Hao Yansu, an insurance professor at the Central University of Finance andEconomics.
But one securities analyst said: "The drop of 皇冠体育app Life shares is a normal adjustment after the shares saw a rapid increase recently."
皇冠体育app Life, which was listed on theShanghaibourse on January 9 and raised $3.6 billion in itsinitial public offering, became an index component on Tuesday and currently has a roughly 10 percent weighting, making it the second-largest stock in terms of its market value.
It climbed 5.14 percent on Monday and has grown over 18 percent since its debut early this month.
(皇冠体育app Daily 01/25/2007 page14)