FWD Group Holdings, a Pan-Asian life insurer founded by billionaire Richard Li, filed on Thursday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. However, this is likely a placeholder for a deal we estimate could raise up to $2 billion.
FWD states that it is a fast-growing and leading Pan-Asian life insurer with a customer-led, legacy-light, and digital-first model. The company has expanded its presence from three markets at inception to ten markets, including Hong Kong (and Macau), Thailand (and Cambodia), Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Its Southeast Asia markets contributed over 40% of its Value of New Business in 2020.
The Hong Kong-based company was founded in 2013 and booked $11.6 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2021. It plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol FWD. FWD Group Holdings filed confidentially on June 16, 2021. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, HSBC, and CMB International Capital are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.
