Chinese state-owned insurer PICC Group started meeting institutional investors in Hong Kong on Thursday to gauge demand for a listing worth up to US$ 4 billion, braving a slump in equity deals with the city’s largest IPO in two years.

People’s Insurance Company of China Group (PICC), one of the country’s largest insurers, will offer 6.9 billion new shares in the IPO, equivalent to a 16.7 per cent stake in the company, said a source with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter and declined to be named.