Ma and his team also confronted shareholders who criticized and heckled the funding plan's purpose as the insurer announced the plan, but never went into details about the exact purpose.

Analysts have expected the insurer to buy stakes in overseas financial players hit by the subprime crisis with relatively lower valuations.

Analysts expect Ping An's shares to dive further in the short term if the funding plan is approved.

Yuan-backed A Shares of Shenzhen-based Ping An have lost 28 percent since it announced the fund raising plan in January.

(Shanghai Daily March 5, 2008)