Tokio Marine to Buy 2 Southeast Asian Insurers for 40 B. Yen

June 19, 2018

Tokyo- Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it will buy a Thai and an Indonesian nonlife insurer from Insurance Australia Group Ltd. for a total of 525 million Australian dollars.

With the move, the major Japanese insurance group is hoping to expand its personal insurance businesses in the growing Southeast Asia region.

Tokio Marine will acquire 98.6 pct outstanding shares of Bangkok-based Safety Insurance Public Co. and 80 pct of Jakarta-based PT Asuransi Parolamas.

Safety Insurance's premium revenue stood at 31.1 billion yen and Parolamas at 200 million yen in fiscal 2017.

The purchase of Safety Insurance will make Tokio Marine the third largest nonlife insurance group in Thailand in terms of premium revenue, with an 8 pct share when the revenue of the Japanese company's existing local unit is combined.

Tokio Marine has been active in large business acquisitions in the United States and Europe, including the purchase of HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. of the United States for some 940 billion yen.

As a result, the company's proportion of profits in emerging economies has declined to some 10 pct.

Tokio Marine hopes to diversify profit sources geographically with the latest acquisitions. Jiji Press