China’s Tahoe Weighs $1 Billion Insurance Unit Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Tahoe Investment Group Co. is weighing a sale of its life insurance unit that could fetch about $1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company, which is also the major shareholder in luxury real estate developer Tahoe Group Co., is working with an adviser to seek buyers for Tahoe Life Insurance Co., said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

Tahoe has approached several insurance firms to gauge their interest in the potential divestment, the people said.

Deliberations are at an early stage and Tahoe could decide to keep the business, said the people. A representative for Tahoe Group did not respond to requests for comment.

The potential sale comes after Tahoe Group Co. defaulted on a yuan bond earlier this week, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on sales. The real estate firm failed to repay a 1.5 billion yuan ($210 million) local note due Monday because of short-term liquidity issues, the company said in a statement. It is working on a plan to restructure its debt, according to the statement.

Tahoe Investment bought Dah Sing Life, a Hong Kong insurer, from Dah Sing Financial Holdings Ltd. for HK$10.6 billion ($1.4 billion) in 2017 and renamed it Tahoe Life. Early bidders in that process included China Life Insurance Co. and Canada’s Sun Life Financial Inc., Bloomberg News reported previously.

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With assistance from Bloomberg