Ping An Insurance (Group) Company forecast third-quarter losses in a notice released on Saturday as it booked a huge loss with its investment in Fortis shares.

An initial calculation showed Ping An, the country's second biggest life insurer after China Life, suffered losses in the first three quarters, the notice said.

According to the insurer, the forecast losses largely resulted from its third quarter book value loss of 15.7 billion yuan (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) for its investment in the Belgian-Dutch financial services company.

The insurer said its net profit in the January-to-September period stood at nearly 11.7 billion yuan, however, it was unable to offset the huge loss resulting from the Fortis investment.

Earlier, Ping An spokesman Sheng Ruisheng said the loss of 15.7 billion yuan in book value as of Sept. 30 would be reflected in its third quarter report, and would have a significant impact on its profit for the first nine months.

He said the company had invested 23.874 billion yuan in Fortis shares since November.

Ping An also said in the notice it was unclear whether it could achieve profit for the entire year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2008)