Fuzhou-based Sunrise Group has announced its withdrawal from participating in the establishment of Straits Life Insurance Co. Despite being proposed in August 2016, the life insurer has never obtained final regulatory approval.
On 31 December 2025, Sunrise’s board approved the "Proposal on Withdrawing from Participation in the Establishment of an Insurance Company" with a vote of 7 in favour, 0 against, and 0 abstentions.
In 2016, Sunrise’s board agreed that the company would invest CNY150m of its own funds to participate in the establishment of Strait Life, for a 10% stake. Prospective investors of Strait Life signed the "Investor Share Subscription Agreement" in August 2016.
Sunrise, listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is engaged in research and development, design, production, and sales of food and beverage packaging containers in China.
Explaining the new board decision, Sunrise stated that since Straits Life has not obtained regulatory approval since 2016, the basic conditions for the company's initial investment assessment of Straits Life have changed significantly. Taking into account the changes in the macroeconomic environment and financial policies in recent years, and in combination with the actual situation of Sunrise and the investment project, in order to focus on the company's main business and optimise resource allocation, the company decided to withdraw from the proposed investment.
Straits Life was planned as a life insurance joint venture to be headquartered in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province. The registered capital was to be CNY1.5bn ($215m), to be contributed by 11 founding shareholders, primarily from Fujian Province. The lead investor was to be Fujian Energy Group which would have a 20% stake. To date, however, none of the prospective sponsors of the life insurer has injected any capital.
Around 2015–2016, China encouraged private capital and non-financial enterprises to enter the insurance industry, aiming to diversify financial services and support regional economic development. Investors were also encouraged to register their new insurance companies outside the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.