China Life also acknowledged that the pending IPO price of its American
depositary shares, each worth 40 "H" shares--shares offered in Hong Kong--was
greater than book value. In the F-1 statement, the insurer placed its book value
at $9.32 a share, while estimating its IPO price in the range of $15.35 to
$18.80.
Milberg Weiss noted that China Life's IPO was over-subscribed by about 25 times,
following a "road show" in New York City just before the IPO. The law firm said
the interest in the stock was "the sort of frenzy that was reminiscent of the
Internet bubble." According to the firm's lawsuit, China Life and certain of its
officers engaged in a "massive financial fraud" amounting to $652 million before
the company's conversion to its current form in June 2003.
The law firm charged that China Life reformed last year "to cherry-pick
healthier policies from its parent company," and that the predecessor company
"engaged in criminal acts involving illegal agent services, illegal premium
payments, embezzlement and depositing monies in illegal bank accounts." The
predecessor company, now under a new name--China Life Insurance (Group) Co.
(CLIC)--controls the listed company, Milberg Weiss said in a statement. The law
firm also charges that the National Audit Office of China was preparing to
publish adverse audit findings on the predecessor company as the IPO was
launched.