China’s Anbang Insurance Group is paying $1 billion to buy a controlling stake in South Korea’s Tong Yang Life Insurance, extending a global acquisitions drive that has already seen it spend $10 billion in under four months.
Anbang agreed to buy a combined 63 percent stake in South Korea’s eighth-largest life insurer from three separate shareholders for 1.13 trillion won ($998 million), or 16,700 won per share, Tong Yang said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
This follows once-obscure Anbang’s deal announced just a day earlier to buy an insurance arm of Dutch bank and insurer SNS Reaal for at least 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion).
The privately-held insurer and asset manager, which according to a media report is considering an initial public offering this year, recently sealed a $1.95 billion purchase of New York’s landmark Waldorf Astoria hotel. It also bought the Belgian banking operations of Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd NV, for 219 million euros.
The flurry of deals shows Anbang’s global ambitions and comes as China’s financial firms are increasingly targeting assets outside of home for growth.
via Chinese insurer Anbang extends M&A drive with $1 billion South Korea buy | Reuters.
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