Millea Holdings Inc’s subsidiary, which acquired 91.87% stake in Singapore’s Asia General Holdings Ltd (AGHL), has identified Asia as one of the most important areas in its overseas growth strategy.
The acquisition, which was undertaken by its subsidiary Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co Ltd (TMNF), will see Millea expanding its general insurance operations in Singapore and Malaysia.
TMNF president Kunio Ishihara said on March 9 in Kuala Lumpur the enlarged network via AGHL would enable it to achieve its target of being among the top five insurers in Malaysia’s life and general insurance market by 2010.
Ishihara said post-transaction, TMNF would also be able to provide its customers with the widest range of products for life, general and takaful insurance.
“With the acquisition, we are the No 8 in general insurance and No 10 in life. Our target is in 2010, we be within the top five for both,” he said a press conference in Kuala Lumpur to explain TMNF’s new corporate structure.
Once TMNF’s acquisition of the remaining 8.13% stake in AGHL is completed, TMNF’s Tokio Marine Insurans (Malaysia) Bhd (TMIM) will take over the operations of Asia Insurans (Malaysia) Bhd, the general insurance arm of AGHL in Malaysia.
“With the acquisition, TMIM will add another 12 branches to its existing network, subject to approval of the authorities. The merged operations of TMIM and Asia Insurans are expected to be finalised in the third quarter of 2007,” he said.
TMIM recorded gross written premium of RM372 million for 2006 and net written premium of RM287 million for 2006. TMIM expects gross premium of over RM450 million by end-2007.
The acquisition of AGHL also saw TMNF controlling 85.15% of The Asia Life Assurance Society Ltd (ALS) and 100% of Asia Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd (AIM)
Ishihara said ALS would offer more value-add products to its existing and new customers and that with Mellia’s development skills and enhanced marketing network, ALS’ existing distribution channels would be more productive.
AIS, he added, would continue to operate on a separate brand from Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance Company (Singapore) Pte Ltd, which is Millea’s existing general insurance company in Singapore that focuses on small-to-medium sized enterprise and retail markets.
He said corporate names for ALS, AIS and ALM would also be changed to TM Asia Life Singapore Ltd, TM Asia Insurance Singapore Ltd and TM Asia Life Malaysia Bhd respectively.