An Asian conglomerate is looking for a partner in the Philippines to establish a foothold on the life insurance industry here, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc said on Monday.
Dooc said the Asian conglomerate, which requested that its name be kept confidential in the meantime, is seriously considering the acquisition of an existing life insurance company in the Philippines as part of its expansion plans.
“This is an Asian company, the largest conglomerate in their country. They requested that their name be held in confidence, but if any insurance company would like to deal with them, they can contact me,” Dooc said.
He said potential investor would like to acquire an existing insurance company because “they would like to hit the ground running.”
This development comes on the heels of a new insurance company to be established by European insurer Ageas and East West Bank, which, Dooc said, would have the largest capitalization among the insurance companies currently in the Philippines, with P2 billion in minimum capital plus around P300 million in operating capital.
Dooc said the potential Asian investor had already met with him twice, indicating the gravity of the intent to implement their expansion plans here. He also said the investor wants to be very deliberate and thorough in studying the domestic insurance industry before actually infusing capital into the local partner.
“Culture-wise, I think that they’re not the type of nationals who would like to be rushed. They want to be very deliberate and thoroughly study the environment first because that’s their nature,” he said.