Talanx has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in PVI Holdings for 1.92 trillion dong (US$92 million) through its subsidiary HDI-Gerling Industrie Versicherung AG, which becomes the largest foreign shareholder in the Hanoi-based insurance group. The transaction is subject to local regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of this year, said Talanx.
The partnership is "an important milestone in the development of PVI as it advances to become a leading professional financial services institution in Vietnam," said Nguyen Anh Tuan, chairman of PVI Holdings, a subsidiary of national oil and gas company Petrovietnam Group.
Under the alliance, Talanx will work with PVI and its subsidiaries for new business development. The two groups "will join forces" in insurance, supported by Talanx's reinsurance unit, Hannover Re. The new capital will serve "to further enhance the financial strength of PVI Holdings" and its subsidiaries' continuous development, according to PVI.
The new venture "secures a foothold in the vigorously growing Vietnamese market, which will form part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' free trade area from 2015 onwards," said Christian Hinsch, deputy chairman of Talanx's board of management and chief executive of HDI-Gerling. "Together with PVI, we have a platform to conduct further activities in this highly attractive region."
Earlier, PVI earlier said it planned to offer 53.2 million new shares through a private placement to foreign strategic investors in a bid to raise capital to fuel new development and to strengthen the financial position of its subsidiaries. The shares placement aims "raise chartered capital from 1.6 trillion dong to 3.6 trillion dong" between 2011 and 2012. The new capital will be used for operations expansion, project investment and new financial services development (Best's News Service, Aug. 17, 2011).
PVI was established in 1996 as an insurance captive of Petrovietnam Group and it was listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange in December 2006. With a nonlife market share of 24%, PVI recorded gross premium of US$183 million in 2010. The insurance group has businesses in nonlife, life, reinsurance and financial services, supported by 1,370 staff and 25 branches.
No comments:
Post a Comment