FWD Group Holdings, a Pan-Asian life insurer founded by billionaire Richard Li, withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Monday. It originally filed in September 2021 with an estimated deal size of $2.0 billion. Since then, however, Chinese regulators have cracked down on US listings from Chinese companies.
In its filing, FWD stated that it "is considering other alternatives." The company recently raised $1.4 billion in a private funding round, and is reportedly planning a Hong Kong listing for early next year.
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 $11.9 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2021. It had planned to list on the NYSE under the symbol FWD. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, HSBC, and CMB International Capital were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.
