(Yicai Global) Sept. 20 -- Fosun International has trimmed its holdings in units New China Life Insurance and Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Group, the latest in a series of asset sales, as the Chinese health-to-smart-manufacturing conglomerate Fosun remains committed to reducing its scale of investment.

Fosun International sold 2.61 million shares in New China Life in block trading on Sept. 15, diluting its stake to 5 percent from 5.84 percent, the insurer said yesterday.

And affiliate Shanghai Fosun High Technology Group sold 38.9 million shares in Yuyuan Tourist Mart between Aug. 26 to Sept. 19, reducing its holdings to 2.63 percent from 3.63 percent, but it remains majority shareholder, the tourism operator also said yesterday.

The reduction in shareholdings is part of Fosun's financial strategy of balancing investments, Fosun High Technology said yesterday. Optimization of the asset portfolio is constant work and is not just in order to cope with the current market environment, it added.

The possibility of a further adjustment of shareholding ratios within the next 12 months cannot be ruled out, Fosun International and Fosun High Technology said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse yesterday as part of obligatory information disclosure procedures.

Fosun International had debts of CNY261.1 billion (USD37.7 billion) as of the June 30, up from CNY237.1 billion at the end of last year, according to its latest earnings report. The Shanghai-based company citied business expansion as the cause. Its debt-to-asset ration reached 56.8 percent, 3 percentage points higher than at the end of 2021.

The conglomerate has been actively raising money through the sale of assets. Since the beginning of the year, it has sold stakes in Hainan Mining, Tsingtao Brewery, Zhongshan Public Utilities Group, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group and Shandong Taihe Water Treatment Technologies among other firms.

Insurance firms in particular have been given the chop. Four Fosun units sold a combined 26 percent equity in Yong’an Property Insurance, reducing their holdings to 14.68 percent from 40.68 percent, the property insurer said earlier this month. And in April, Fosun International sold off US insurer AmeriTrust Group for USD740 million.

Editor: Kim Taylor