When TPG withdrew its offer to take CNinsure private last year, the buy-out group said it backed away because of discrepancies between the business the Chinese insurance broker claimed to have booked and the money actually coming in.
What is not well known is that those discrepancies were uncovered by investigators hired by the private equity group, who pretended to be insurance agents, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The findings of the investigators and doubts on the valuations at which CNinsure had made some of its acquisitions over the years spurred TPG to withdraw from the deal after spending $10m on due diligence.