S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of insurance news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that may require a subscription.
M&A buzz
* Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. unit ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. agreed to sell its New Zealand-based life insurance business OnePath Life (NZ) Ltd. to Cigna Corp. for NZ$700 million.
* U.S.-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC reportedly agreed to acquire Legal & General Group PLC's 26% stake in Mumbai-based IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd. for 7.10 billion rupees.
* South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group Co. Ltd. has reportedly dropped its plan to acquire a majority stake in ING Life Insurance Korea Ltd. due to differences in acquisition terms and price.
* A consortium of South Korea's Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. Ltd. and Japan's ORIX Corp. reportedly intends to participate in the bidding process for Seoul-based MG Non-Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
* Samsung Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. will reportedly sell a 0.45% stake in Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. amid pressure on Samsung Group to simplify the cross-shareholding links among its affiliate companies.
* Nippon Life Insurance Co. has completed its acquisition of an 85.1% stake in MassMutual Life Insurance Co. Ltd. from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. unit MassMutual International LLC.
Japanese insurers posts full-year results
* Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. said net surplus attributable to the parent company for the fiscal year ended March 31 rose to ¥265.04 billion from ¥223.73 billion in the prior-year period.
* Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. reported a year-over-year increase in net income for the fiscal year ended March 31.
* Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd. said net profit for the fiscal year jumped year over year to ¥26.99 billion from ¥8.14 billion, on the back of lower extraordinary loss.
* AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd.'s net profit for the year also rose to ¥28.62 billion from ¥15.84 billion.
* Meanwhile, Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co., MetLife Insurance KK and Nippon Life Insurance Co. reported a year-over-year decrease in their respective net profits for the fiscal year ended March 31.
Regulatory updates
* Chinese regulators have reportedly appointed China International Capital Corp. Ltd. and UBS Group AG to advise them on plans to unwind Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd.'s investments. In addition, the Chinese insurer's former chairman, Wu Xiaohui, has appealed his fraud and embezzlement conviction.
* The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission proposed a revision of rules for managing foreign-funded insurers. The watchdog will hear feedback on its proposed rules until June 29.
* QBE Insurance Group Ltd.'s new Belgian subsidiary, QBE Europe SA/NV, has received a license from the National Bank of Belgium.
In other news
* Malaysian Reinsurance Bhd. signed a memorandum of understanding with Argo Managing Agency Ltd. for providing underwriting and technical support.
* Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. of China Ltd. and France's Sanofi agreed to collaborate on smart healthcare for China.
* PT Asuransi Tugu Pratama Indonesia Tbk's shares reportedly ended their first day of trading on the Indonesia Stock Exchange down 6.49% to 3,600 rupiah May 28.
* Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of Commonwealth Bank of Australia's 37.5% stake in China's BoCommLife Insurance Co. Ltd. is credit positive for the Japanese insurer and the Australian bank because the proposed deal would diversify Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance's portfolio and raise CBA's common equity Tier 1 ratio by 13 basis points.
