$10bn boost for overseas property

Photo: BBC

Insurance Journal reports that insurers, including Cathay Life Insurance Co, have already submitted plans to buy more than 10 overseas buildings for approval by the island’s financial regulator, said Paul Hsu, chairman of the Life Insurance Association of the Republic of China. Most of those deals include office buildings in major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, he said.

Taiwan allowed insurers seeking stable returns to invest in real estate overseas after limiting them from buying locally to curb commercial property prices. Fubon Life Insurance Co., a unit of the island’s second-biggest financial company, said last week it plans to buy as much as $3 billion of overseas properties over the next four to five years.

“For the whole industry, the number can definitely be over $10 billion,” Hsu, a former lawmaker with the ruling party Kuomintang, said in an Oct. 4 interview. “We’re now trying to build a base in some big Chinese cities before moving into the second-tier ones there. The former provide good rental and stability, while the latter would also give us potential capital appreciation.”