Hot Asia M&A insurance market drives prices

Asia’s mergers & acquisitions (M&A) market is a “very hotly contested area” and this is driving prices up, Aviva Asia chief strategy officer Alex Kimura, told AM Best.

“There are many people coming to the table in terms of M&A. You have multinationals who have traditionally been involved in M&A. You have tech companies who are bidding for assets within Asia,” Kimura explained in the March 13 BestWeek Asia-Pacific Edition.

Asia is an attractive jurisdiction for insurers because of the region’s low insurance penetration. In most markets for life insurance, penetration rates are under 10 or 15 percent, Kimura said. On the general insurance side, it’s less than 10 percent.

Insurance markets that are particularly interesting are the ones in the most populous countries, such as India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, Kimura said.

Join us at Intelligent Automation in Insurance - London 2018. Spring Special:  Book before March 31st and save £200. 

More of today's news

Hannover Re avoids P&C 2017 underwriting loss

XL Catlin appoints Canada CEO from Zurich

AIG sells $502.5m in Arch shares

Prudential Corporation Asia names new chief operating office

Barbican hires Standard Syndicate exec for financial lines unit

Chubb partners with fintech Grab in digital strategy

Don't miss our insurtech email newsletter - sign up today