Ironshore, will help spot U.S. businesses and assets to buy for Fosun International, the Chinese conglomerate slated to become owner of the Bermuda –based insurer and reinsurer.

These assets, in turn, will be targeted acquisitions for which Ironshore has the ability to support the underlying risk.

Specifically, Ironshore will pursue investment opportunities through its new Chinese Investment Practice Group for Fosun – which has collected companies in industries including insurance, pharmaceuticals, steel manufacturing, and asset management. Fosun also owns sizeable real estate properties around the word.

Toby Smith will lead the Chinese Investment Practice Group, which will involve Ironshore executives from various business line units from its specialty global platform. At the same time, Smith will continue to manage the site pollution unit of Ironshore Environmental.

Smith explained to Carrier Management via email that Ironshore will be targeting Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. in a variety of sectors, including energy, construction and real estate. But Ironshore also stands to benefit on the risk management side.

“Our goal is to build upon Ironshore’s relationship with Fosun to develop strong relationships with other Chinese investment companies and to understand the risk appetite of these companies, and ultimately assist them with their risk management needs in the U.S.,” Smith added.

“Given the projected growth of Chinese foreign direct investment, we view this as a substantial opportunity to develop strong relationships and support our own insurance business,” he said.

CEO Kevin Kelley said that the new operation is designed, in part, to help Ironshore take part in a major trend – surging Chinese investment in the U.S.

“Chinese direct foreign investment is projected to exceed $2 trillion by the end of this decade,” Kelley said in prepared remarks. “We believe that Ironshore is well-positioned to take advantage of this emerging megatrend within the global insurance industry.”

Fosun picked up a 20 percent stake in Ironshore in February, but announced in May it would buy the whole thing in an $1.84 billion merger. Plans call for keeping Ironshore’s senior management in place and letting it operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fosun.

Source: Ironshore