Recruiting in China

Shanghai-based Fosun has dropped a plan to buy a controlling stake in Israeli insurer Phoenix Holdings because certain conditions for the deal were not met, a statement said yesterday.

Fosun had agreed to buy 52.31 percent in Phoenix from Delek Group in June last year in a deal worth $462 million.

The Chinese company yesterday said the two parties decided to terminate the deal as "certain conditions" have not been "fulfilled or waived," Fosun International said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Neither party is obliged to pay a penalty, the statement added.

Shares of Hong Kong-listed Fosun International lost 1.14 percent yesterday, lagging the 1.03 percent fall in the Hang Seng Index.

In a separate statement yesterday, Delek said it is evaluating other options for the sale of its holding in Phoenix to potential investors.

The termination is the first major setback for Fosun after its chairman, Guo Guangchang, was briefly taken by authorities in December last year to assist an investigation as part of the Chinese government's anti-corruption campaign.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange suspended trading in Phoenix and its parent company Delek after Guo went missing.

Israeli newspaper Globes said last month the country's Supervisor of Insurance, Capital Market and Savings, Dorit Salinger, was not likely to approve Fosun Group as the controlling shareholder in Phoenix.

Fosun now has over one-third of its total assets invested in insurance, including Yong'an P&C Insurance, Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance, Hong Kong-based Peak Reinsurance, Portugal's Fidelidade Group, US-based Meadowbrook Insurance Group and Ironshore.