Skip to main content Skip to floating mini video Reuters home WorldBusinessLegal MarketsBreakingviewsTechnologyInvestigationsSportsMore Sign In Register January 19, 2022 6:37 AM GMT+2 Last Updated 19 hours ago Funds FWD Group raises $200 mln in pre-IPO funding - sources By Scott Murdoch 2 minute read Richard Li, Hong Kong businessman and younger son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, waves as he arrives to vote during the election for Hong Kong"s next Chief Executive in Hong Kong, China March 26, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip The company logo of FWD is displayed at the lobby of a commercial building where one of its offices is located in Hong Kong, China August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip Richard Li, Hong Kong businessman and younger son of tycoon Li Ka-shing, waves as he arrives to vote during the election for Hong Kong"s next Chief Executive in Hong Kong, China March 26, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip 1/2 The company logo of FWD is displayed at the lobby of a commercial building where one of its offices is located in Hong Kong, China August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip MELBOURNE Jan 19 (Reuters) - Asian insurer FWD Group has raised $200 million in new funding ahead of its planned Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The sources could not be named as the information had not yet been made public. FWD Group declined to comment. Two new investors, ORIX Corp (8591.T) and Huatai Securities Co(601688.SS), participated in the private placement, the sources said. ORIX declined to comment and Huatai did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The deal means the Richard Li-backed FWD Group has raised $1.6 billion in the past month after the company ditched its U.S. IPO plans. The first capital raising of $1.4 billion valued FWD Group at $9 billion on a post money basis, sources told Reuters in December. It now plans to carry out a Hong Kong IPO after it struggled to receive full approval from U.S. regulators to list in New York. FWD Group had planned to raise $2 billion to $3 billion in the U.S. offering. The company received preliminary approval in December from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to carry out a marketing roadshow to investors, but still needed full sign-off from regulators, sources told Reuters at the time. FWD has a business presence in 10 Asian markets, according to its website.