[Aju News DB]
China's Anbang Insurance Group has forged a deal to acquire the South Korean life insurance unit of Europe's financial group Allianz amid a wave of consolidation in the global life and pensions sector.
It would be Anbang's second acquisition of a South Korean insurer.
The price was not disclosed, but sources in the industry said the deal between Allianz and Anbang is now waiting for approval from the Financial Services Commission, a state financial watchdog.
Anbang will purchase a 100 percent stake in Allianz Life Insurance Korea, the 11th largest life insurer in South Korea with its assets estimated at 16.65 trillion won (14.54 billion US dollars) at the end of last year.
Anbang, which has aggressively acquired overseas assets, bought Tongyang Life Insurance, ranked eighth in South Korea, in February last year, with its assets standing at 22.5 trillion won.
It was not clear whether the Chinese group will run Tongyang and Allianz Life Korea separately. If combined, the entity will become South Korea's fifth largest insurance company.
Allianz has divested chunks of its multi-billion euro portfolio of old insurance policies in international markets. New European capital rules make it more capital-intensive for insurers to hold closed life insurance business on their books, encouraging consolidation.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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