(Yicai) Sept. 8 -- A hotel management company controlled by He Xiangjian, founder of white goods giant Midea Group, has bought into the Chinese unit of South Korea’s biggest property insurer, becoming its third-largest shareholder.

Junlan Hotel Management, owned by He’s family business Midea Holding, purchased an 11.5 percent stake in Samsung Property & Casualty China from Yuxing Technology Development, the Shanghai-based insurer said on Sept. 5. Headquartered in Guangzhou, Junlan Hotel is owned by He’s family business Midea Holding.

Once the deal goes through, Junlan Hotel will become the joint third-largest shareholder of Samsung Property & Casualty along with Mambat Zhangjiagang Investment and Development, a subsidiary of Chinese clothing giant HLA Group, the announcement said.

Samsung Fire & Marine set up Samsung Property & Casualty in 2005 to offer property, motor, and personal injury policies. In 2022, the unit brought in five Chinese companies as shareholders, including internet giant Tencent Holdings which became the No. 2 investor with a 32 percent stake. This diluted Samsung Fire’s shareholding to 37 percent.

Samsung Property & Casualty posted net profit of CNY68.9 million (USD9.7 million) in the first half, according to its latest financial report. Revenue from its insurance business was CNY1.3 billion (USD182.2 million). And it had total assets of CNY5.5 billion as of the end of June.

Midea Holding, owned by He and his wife Lu Deyan, is the largest shareholder of Foshan-based Midea Group with a 28.3 percent equity holding. It also owns numerous other assets such as real estate developer Midea Real Estate Holding.

Editor: Kim Taylor