Britain's Prudential PLC and the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) will launch a life insurance joint venture in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Once the joint venture is approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Committee, it will become the first Sino-British life insurance joint venture in China.

The joint venture will register 200 million yuan of capital, with each side holding half of the equity, according to a memorandum of understanding signed between them recently.

Prudential PLC was given approval to open branches in China in May this year. The British company has established five representative offices in the cities of Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenyang, respectively.

Mark Tucker, chief executive of Prudential Corporation Asia, said the new joint venture demonstrate his company's confidence in Asia and determination in making long-term investments in China.

Chang Zhenming, deputy general manager of CITIC, pledged full support for the joint venture. CITIC will be able to provide domestic clients with a wider range of services including banking, industrial investment and other financial services.

The two investment partners will provide China Insurance Regulatory Committee with detailed business development and marketing plans for the joint venture.

Prudential PLC was established in London in 1848, and soon became a major life insurance and mutual fund management company in Britain. It manages well over 250 billion US dollars worth of funds and has business offices in ten countries and regions. Founded in October 1979, CITIC is a large state-owned enterprise directly administered by the State Council. Its net assets total some 244.5 billion yuan. (Xinhua)