(Yicai) May 17 -- Ping An Asset Management said HSBC Holdings is a “long-term investment” after a media report claimed that its parent company, Ping An Insurance Group, is looking at how to reduce its stake in the UK banking giant.

“HSBC is our long-term financial investment,” Ping An Asset, a unit of China’s biggest insurer, said in a statement today. “The bank maintains a unique competitive advantage in Asia, so we are confident about its long-term development.”

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Ping An, HSBC’s largest shareholder, is considering options to reduce its 8 percent stake in the London-based lender. One option is to sell more shares of HSBC, while another is to find a sovereign wealth fund or an ultra-rich Middle East investor to take a substantial stake, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ping An Asset sold 5.6 million HSBC shares at HKD69.31 (USD8.88) apiece for about HKD392 million (USD50 million), a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing showed on May 7. That reduced its holding in the lender to 7.98 percent from 8.01 percent.

Ping An bought HSBC shares in 2017 through Ping An Asset, becoming one of the bank’s major shareholders. But there have been high-profile disputes over strategy, with Ping An backing a proposal last year to spin off HSBC’s Asian business to form a bank more focused on that region. The proposal was not approved at HSBC’s general meeting of shareholders last May.

Ping An likely cut its stake in HSBC this time to take advantage of the high stock price, a market insider told Yicai.

Shares of HSBC [HKG: 0005] have been rising since March, reaching a high of HKD70.39 (USD9.02) in Hong Kong trading on May 8. HSBC closed down 2.2 percent at HKD68.55 a share today, but is still up 14 percent this year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting