Singlife gets sole owner

Singlife gets sole owner | Insurance Business Asia

Life & Health

Singlife gets sole owner

Previous shareholders include Aviva

Life & Health

By
Terry Gangcuangco

Singapore Life Holdings (Singlife) is now fully owned by Sumitomo Life Insurance Company.

Last September, British insurer Aviva agreed to sell its 25.9% stake in Singlife, along with two debt instruments, to Sumitomo Life for S$1.4 billion.

The Japanese mutual, which first invested in Singlife in 2019, also moved to acquire all the shares in Singlife held by TPG (around 35%) back in December, while offering to snap up the stake of all other remaining shareholders.

Following the approval by regulatory bodies in both Singapore and Japan, Singlife has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Life, which views the Singaporean business as a critical hub for its Asian expansion plans.

Up until the end of 2022, Singlife traded under the ‘Singlife with Aviva’ branding. Meanwhile, the integration into Sumitomo Life will not alter Singlife’s current operations, including its brand, management, and product offerings.

“We are pleased to join the Sumitomo Life group,” Singlife chair Ray Ferguson commented. “It has been a remarkable journey getting to where we are today. We have grown from strength to strength since Sumitomo Life’s first investment in Singlife in 2019, through Singlife’s merger with Aviva Singapore till today.

Pearlyn Phau, group chief executive at Singlife, said: “We are very pleased to celebrate this milestone and excited for what this means for us as a business. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Life, we will have the means to expand and fulfill our ambition to offer customers an omni-channel tech-enabled, holistic proposition.

“We will continue to build products and services to meet their protection needs and offer retirement and wealth solutions that further their wellbeing and address their protection gaps. I believe we can leverage the combined strengths of Singlife and Sumitomo Life to deliver exceptional financial planning solutions across Asia.”

When Aviva announced its planned exit from Singlife, group chief executive Amanda Blanc cited Aviva’s “very strong position” to build on its trading momentum in the UK, Ireland, and Canada. Singlife contributed £17 million to Aviva’s operating profit in 2022.

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