(Yicai) Nov. 3 -- China National Petroleum Corporation, the country's largest oil and gas supplier, plans to sell all of its shares in a property insurance joint venture with Italy's Assicurazioni Generali.

The pre-disclosure sales period for the 51 percent stake is 20 working days, according to a notice on the website of China Beijing Equity Exchange.

Formed in April 2007, Generali China Insurance was the country's first property insurance JV and had a registered capital of CNY1.3 billion (USD177.7 million). It was set up following approval by the former China Insurance Regulatory Commission, with CNPC and Assicurazioni Generali each owning half of the company.

Assicurazioni Generali transferred 1 percent of its shares to CNPC in 2009, which moved its entire stake to CNPC Capital, a financial management unit, in 2016.

China has gradually lifted the cap on foreign ownership limits in the insurance sector since April 2018. Allianz Life Insurance established China's first foreign-owned insurance holding company in November 2019 and the first foreign-owned insurance asset manager in 2021.

China Germany Allianz Life Insurance was renamed Allianz China Life Insurance last December, becoming the country's first life insurance JV to be turned into a foreign-owned business.

Generali China had net profit of CNY20 million (USD2.7 million) in the first nine months of this year, with revenue of CNY845 million (USD115.5 million) and total assets of CNY4 billion.

In 2002, CNPC and Assicurazioni Generali also formed Generali China Life Insurance, splitting its equity equally between them. The JV has a registered capital of CNY3.7 billion and total assets of more than CNY100 billion (USD13.7 billion). 

Editor: Martin Kadiev