 |
| September 7, 2004 |
|
| Purchase of
Aviva plc's general insurance operations in Asia |
| Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd.(the "MSI", President:
Hiroyuki Uemura) signed a sales & purchase agreement with Aviva
plc.(the "Aviva", UK) on September 7, 2004, to acquire Aviva's
general insurance operations in Asia for USD 450 million (JPY 50 billion)
in cash. With this acquisition, MSI's businesses in the region will
be dramatically enhanced and the premium volume will expand from 42
billion yen to 72 billion yen, which is expected to transform MSI
the largeset general insurance player in the ASEAN community and one
of the largest non-domestic players in the Asian region. In addition
to that, the acquisition will secure the second largest position in
Japan on consolidated premium basis including overseas as targeted
in MSI's medium-term strategic business plan "MS WAVE II". |
| 1. Asian operations of Aviva
plc. |
| (1) |
Corporate history and growth strategy |
| |
Aviva has 120 years of business history in Asia.
Its growth strategy in the area is as follows; |
| |
1. |
Increase personal insurance businesses through solid
underwriting. |
| |
2. |
Withdraw from large commercial insurance businesses
and expand into SME insurance businesses. |
| |
3. |
Increase profitable cargo insurance. |
| |
4. |
Expand into bancassurance businesses. |
| (2) |
Business profile |
| |
1. |
Gross premium : USD285million (JPY30billion) as of
December 31, 2003 |
| |
2. |
Main business area / Gross premium |
| |
|
| - |
Hong Kong: |
USD 76million |
| - |
Singapore: |
USD 75million |
| - |
Malaysia: |
USD 75million |
| - |
Thailand: |
USD 47million |
|
| |
3. |
Premium breakdown by business: |
| |
|
Commercial insurance (60%), Personal insurance (40%) |
| |
4. |
Number of staff in the region: 1,400 |
| 2. Purpose of this Acquisition |
| (1) |
MSI has started its businesses in Thailand since 1954, cerebrating
its 50th year of operations in the Asian region. Today, MSI operates
in 16 countries and territories in Asia Pacific. MSI is one of the
top general insurance players in the region (No.1 among Japanese insurance
companies). However, about 70% of the revenue comes from Japanese
clients and large commercial insurance businesses. |
| (2) |
This acquisition will make MSI, the largest general insurance company
in the ASEAN countries surpassing AIG, and one of the two largest
non-domestic players in the whole of Asia, together with AIG. Besides,
in terms of profitability, with Aviva's curent portfolio mainly consisting
of domestic clients and SME insurance businesses, this transaction
will bring high profitability, complementing the existing MSI's portfolio. |
| (3) |
In MSI's midium-term strategic business plan "MS
WAVE II", one of the targets is being No.2 in consolidated
net premium written basis including overseas. MSI has narrowly achieved
this target in FY2003, and this acquisition will make this achievement
more secured. |
| *About Aviva plc. |
| Aviva plc. is the world's fifth-largest insurance group, the largest
insurer in the UK and one of the top five life companies in Europe.
Its main activities are long-term savings, fund management and general
insurance. The group has 56,000 employees and 30 million customers
worldwide. For more information, please visit www.aviva.com
and www.aviva-asia.com |
|
