China Insurance Media Corporation, China's first joint stock media company that was restructured as a whole from a newspaper, commenced business yesterday.

The establishment of the company, restructured on the basis of China Insurance News, is also the first pilot in the government's drive to reform its media system.

Besides running the newspaper, the new company will also engage in publication, exhibitions, educational training and consultancy, it said in a statement.

Shareholders in the new company, with 100 million yuan (US$12 million) in registered capital, include the China Reinsurance (Group) Co, China's largest reinsurer; China Life Insurance (Group) Co, which owns China's largest life insurer China Life Insurance Co Ltd; and PICC Holding Company, the parent of PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd, the nation's largest property insurer.

Both China Life Insurance Co Ltd and PICC Property and Casualty have sold shares to international investors in their initial public offerings in the past two years, but are still controlled by their State-owned parent firms.

The other two shareholders are Beijing Changxiang Media Investment Co and Shanghai Fuxi Investment Holding Co, a private investment company.

China Insurance News was set up in 1994 by the State-owned People's Insurance Company of China, which was later split into three separate arms in the reinsurance, life insurance and property insurance sectors. Prior to the restructuring, the newspaper was run by China Reinsurance. Enditem

Source: China Daily