Bermudian insurer Ironshore may sell shares to the public or be sold by its Chinese owners, according to reports in international business media yesterday.

Fosun International Ltd, the Shanghai-based conglomerate led by billionaire chairman Guo Guangchang, may be mulling the move just four months after completing the $1.84 billion acquisition of Ironshore.

Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified said Fosun was considering an initial public offering of Ironshore shares, or a sale.

Bloomberg was following up on a similar story by online industry publication Insurance Insider.

In a statement yesterday, a spokesperson for Ironshore said: “No final decision has been made by the respective boards of directors of Ironshore and Fosun on whether, when or where to proceed with the possible offering.”

The news comes three months after ratings agency AM Best put Ironshore’s ratings under review after Mr Guo was reported missing and was later revealed to have been assisting Chinese authorities with an investigation.

AM Best cited “concern over the weak financial profile of Fosun, represented by its high financial leverage and constrained liquidity position”.

It added that the questioning of Mr Guo had created “an additional level of uncertainty as to Fosun’s continued ability to improve its financial position within a time frame originally contemplated”.

The rating agency added that it would “monitor this situation and conduct further discussions with management to assess Ironshore’s governance structure and regulatory oversight, which together could insulate Ironshore’s capital from adverse financial conditions at Fosun”.

Ironshore has a financial strength rating of A (excellent) from AM Best. A downgrade would be competitively damaging for a company that has expanded rapidly since it was formed in Bermuda in 2006 with an initial $1 billion in capital.

Since then it has grown out a global platform with some 30 offices in the US, Canada, China, Britain, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Dubai, writing around $2.3 billion in premiums on an annualised basis.

As of October last year, Ironshore had 62 employees in Bermuda out of a global workforce of around 800.

From its Hamilton offices in Seon Place, Ironshore writes property insurance and also operates Iron-Starr Excess Agency Ltd, a managing general agency, underwriting on behalf of Ironshore Insurance and partners Starr Insurance and Reinsurance and Hamilton Re.

Fosun has made more than $25 billion of acquisitions over the past five years. But its Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen 17 per cent this year.