PETALING JAYA: AMMB Holdings Bhd
and MetLife International Holdings LLC are disposing of their life insurance and takaful businesses to Great Eastern, for RM1.12bil, about a year after AMMB’s general insurance unit merged with Liberty Insurance Bhd.
AMMB, which is the holding company of AmBank, announced that AmMetLife Insurance Bhd (AML) would merge with Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd (GELM), post-completion of the sale while AmMetLife Takaful Bhd (AMT) would merge with Great Eastern Takaful Bhd (GETB).The parties involved would need to secure the necessary regulatory approvals before proceeding with a sale and purchase agreement.
AMAB Holdings Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned unit of AMMB, had entered into an implementation agreement with MetLife, GELM and GETB yesterday.
Under the current structure, the ownership of AML and AMT is split evenly between AMAB and MetLife.
AMAB holds 50% minus one share in AML, and MetLife owns the remaining 50% plus one share. For AMT, AMAB owns 50% plus one share, and MetLife has 50% minus one share.
Under the proposed sale, GELM and GETB will purchase 100% of the share capital of AML and AMT.
The proposed sale will also see AMMB entering into a 20-year new bancassurance and bancatakaful partnership.
According to AMMB Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir, the alignment of AML and AMT with Great Eastern would pave the way for a robust growth and sustainable scalability.
“This synergistic integration will provide us with the advantage of securing economies of scale that will translate into superior customer value, enhanced by our combined and complementary capabilities in product design, digital innovation and distribution expertise.”
“It is not just about business growth. It is about transforming the customer experience. We are committed to utilising this strategic collaboration as a springboard for innovation, developing tailored solutions to meet the needs of our diverse customers at different life stages in the Malaysian market,” he said in a statement.
Founded in 1908, Great Eastern is a market leader in Singapore and Malaysia.
In Malaysia, GELM and GETB provide a suite of life insurance and family takaful coverages to more than 13 million customers including the mySalam government scheme, supported by over a 30,000-strong agency force and omni-channel distribution network.
On July 28, 2022, AMMB completed the sale of AmGeneral Insurance Bhd to Liberty Insurance Bhd (LIB) for RM2.29bil following regulatory approval from the Finance Ministry and the signing of the share sale and purchase agreement with LIB.
With the completion of the deal, LIB has acquired 100% of AmGeneral, previously 51%-owned by AMMB and 49%-owned by Insurance Australia Group.
As part of the sales agreement, AMMB received cash amounting to RM287mil and a 30% stake in the combined entity of AmGeneral and LIB valued at RM939mil.
In addition, AMMB entered into a 20-year new bancassurance partnership for the distribution of general insurance products as part of the transaction.
Following the completion of sale, AmGeneral changed its corporate name to Liberty General Insurance Bhd.
Liberty General is the only general insurer in Malaysia to have access to multiple brands – Liberty Insurance, Kurnia Insurance and AmAssurance.
