UK-based Prudential and Canadian insurer Manulife are among the four companies shortlisted, while AIA Group and Sun Life Financial have also made it through to the second round of a process which sources reportedly said attracted ten suitors in the first round.
The sources have not been named but are quoted by Reuters as well as other news agencies.
Aviva, the UK’s second biggest insurer is selling the 49% minority stake in a joint venture with Malaysia’s second largest lender CIMB Group Holdings as part of a wider strategy which it said will involve pulling out of some markets.
Last week the company confirmed the sale of its South Korean business and a decision to pull out of partnerships in Italy. At the same time, the company said it is also pulling out of the bulk purchase annuity market in the UK.
In the same announcement, the company’s recently appointed chairman John McFarlane said a review had identified a further 13 non-core businesses “currently producing or will prospectively produce returns below the group’s required return” which it intends to exit.
