Subject to regulatory approvals, Metlife will acquire a 51% stake in AmLife Insurance Berhad with AMMB Holdings owning the rest. AMMB will hold 51% stake in AmFamily Takaful Berhad while Metlife will hold the rest.
As a part of this strategic partnership deal, AmLife and AmTakaful will also enter into an "exclusive” 20-year bancassurance and bancatakaful agreements for the distribution of life insurance and family takaful products through the distribution network of AMMB’s banking subsidiaries, AmBank (M) Berhad and AmIslamic Bank Berhad, across Malaysia.
The deal is subject to approval of Bank Negara Malaysia and/or the Minister of Finance.
Tan Sri Azman Hashim, chairman of AMMB, said, “We look forward to the start of a fruitful long-term partnership and believe that MetLife’s global expertise in life insurance products combined with the strength of AMMB’s distribution network, will allow us to offer market-leading products to our customers.”
Morgan Stanley acted as an exclusive financial adviser to AMMB.
According to MetLife, this deal signals the insurer's "ambition to become a leading player in the Malaysian insurance market."
“Our proposed transaction advances MetLife’s strategy to capitalize on growth opportunities in emerging markets, and further expands our footprint into fast growing and profitable South East Asia insurance markets,” said Christopher Townsend, MetLife’s Asia president.
“AmBank Group has a distinguished track-record and brand, and we look forward to partnering with them to build top-tier life insurance and takaful businesses in Malaysia,” he added.
According to Nirmala Menon, MetLife’s head of designated markets and health Asia, Malaysia is an attractive market, with low insurance penetration and a rapidly expanding middle class.
“Partnering with AMMB will leverage the strengths of two exceptional companies to meet the increasing demand for insurance in Malaysia. AMMB’s customers will benefit from access to MetLife’s global expertise, financial strength and innovative products and services, while MetLife will benefit from AMMB’s distribution network, and brand strength in the market place," she said.
“Malaysia is a fast developing and important center of Islamic finance and this partnership will advance our Takaful product capabilities, providing us with an opportunity to export these across our other Muslim markets," she added.
The proposed transaction follows recent announcements from MetLife of the formation of a joint venture with Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and opening of a Representative Office in Myanmar.
Established in 1975, AmBank Group is one of the largest banking groups in Malaysia and comprises AMMB Holdings Berhad and its core subsidiaries – AmBank (M) Berhad, AmIslamic Bank Berhad, AmInvestment Bank Berhad, AmInvestment Group Berhad, AmGeneral Insurance Berhad, AmLife Insurance Berhad and AmFamily Takaful Berhad. AMMB Holdings is a listed company on the Malaysian Exchange.
The Group provides a wide range of both conventional and Islamic financing and related financial services, including retail banking, business banking, transaction banking, corporate and institutional banking, investment banking, funds management, markets, as well as underwriting of general insurance, life insurance and family takaful.
AmLife is operating since 1973 and offers protection, savings and investment-linked products through agency, bank, and group channels. AmTakaful started operations in January 2012 and distributes Shariah-compliant products.
MetLife, Inc. is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers, and has operations in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
