ACE to Acquire Majority of Siam Commercial Bank's Non-Life Insurance Business

  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 [e-mail]

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