Chinese financial services companies may soon snap up stakes in Australian insurers as Asian businesses seek to diversify their footprints and learn from their developed-country counterparts.
That is the prediction of Shanghai-based Clyde & Co partner Michael Cripps, who said multibillion-dollar Chinese insurers are becoming interested in companies such as Suncorp Group, IAG and QBE Insurance Group due to strong regulation and stability in the local market. 
While an all-out buyout is unlikely, Chinese companies may consider buying meaningful stakes in Australian insurers as they seek to diversify their risk pool and tap the underwriting expertise of their Western counterparts.
"Personally I think it's highly attractive for these Chinese groups to come here in Australia; they see financial services companies such as insurers as an easier leeway to get into market [compared with the big four banks]," he said. "I think they might be interested in say 10 to 15 per cent stakes in companies ... and it would just deliver to them an ability to participate, to look at governance models [of Australian insurers]."
Clyde & Co found transactions involving Chinese entities had risen in the past 12 months, with eight deals sealed between   July 2014 and   June 2015, up from five the prior year.
Most Chinese deals in the past year had occurred outside the country's borders. One example is Anbang Insurance Group Co, which dived into the Belgian market last year.
"Anbang demonstrated its international growth ambitions with a deal to acquire Belgium's Fidea Assurances, expected to complete in the middle of 2015, which will mark the first time a Chinese insurance company has gained 100 per cent ownership of a European insurance company," according to the Clyde & Co's 2015 insurance M&A activity global review report. "In   December, Chinese conglomerate Fosun International - the country's largest private equity group with a focus on overseas markets - acquired North American insurer Meadowbrook for approximately $US433 million."
Mr Cripps believes Australia may soon become a hotbed for Chinese insurers looking for footholds in Western markets, with companies keenly studying deals such as Warren Buffett's decision to buy 3.7 per cent of IAG.