AJG storms into Chinese market

Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) has entered the Chinese market after signing a joint venture agreement with Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers.

The agreement sees AJG take a 24.9 percent share ownership of the new Shanghai-based operation.

Expected to launch in the first half of 2015, the new operation, trading as Jiang Tai Re, will focus on reinsurance and specialty lines. Jiang Tai’s current president Frank Lu will lead the 25-strong team.

AJG said it understands this to be the first joint venture insurance broker launched in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Vyvienne Wade, international commercial director at AJG, said: “Our international expansion strategy is to introduce Gallagher’s expertise and capabilities into stable and emerging economies — and the opportunity rarely gets larger or more rapidly emerging than China. But we were only prepared to take this ambitious step with the right partner.

“As one of China’s largest insurance brokers with a formidable reputation, incredibly strong client relationships and cultural values aligned to our own, Jiang Tai was the natural choice. It is an honour to partner with such highly regarded professionals as chairman Shen and president Lu as they look to expand their company’s interests on the international stage.”

Chairman Shen, of Jiang Tai Insurance Brokers, said: “This is an investment we have been planning for some time and it has been of critical importance to choose a partner that has a strong cultural fit with our own. Our delegation has spent a lot of time with the teams at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., both at the company’s international division base in London and its global headquarters in the US, which clearly showed our two organisations enjoy the same ethos and share the same values. We look forward to a strong and successful partnership as Jiang Tai Re.”