By Cynthia Koons
Insurer ACE Limited (ACE) reached a conditional agreement to
take a 60.9% stake in the general-insurance division of Siam
Commercial Bank (SCB.TH) for $185 million, ACE said on Monday.
"This transaction presents an excellent opportunity for ACE to
further build our business in this fast-growing market by expanding
our presence in personal and small commercial insurance," ACnE
Chief Executive Evan Greenberg said.
Siam Commercial Bank's general-insurance arm had around $138
million of gross written premium as of 2012.
International insurers are buying assets and entering into
distribution agreements to increase presence in Asia. AIA Group
Ltd. has an exclusive deal to sell insurance through Citibank's
Asian-Pacific retail branch network. That December deal--valued at
more than $4 billion--allows AIA the right to sell insurance
through Citi's network in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
Insurers from Europe, the U.S. and Japan have been looking at
deals in Southeast Asia lately--largely for the distribution
agreements local insurers and banks offer.
Last year, Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) teamed up with
Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd. to buy 98%
of Malaysian life insurer CIMB Aviva Malaysia for $596 million.
That deal included an exclusive distribution agreement. Also last
year, U.S. insurer MetLife Inc. (MET) struck a deal to acquire 51%
of AmLife Insurance Bhd., the insurance arm of Malaysia's AMMB
Holdings Bhd. (1015.KU), for $256 million.
Barclays (BARC.LN) and Siam Commercial's investment bank advised
Siam Commercial Bank on the sale while Citigroup advised ACE,
according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Write to Cynthia Koons at cynthia.koons@wsj.com
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