Blackstone set for exit from New Zealand's Partners Life
The Blackstone Group will exit its majority stake in New Zealand-based insurer Partners Life following the announcement of a full acquisition of the company by Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Holdings at a valuation of approximately NZD 1bn (USD 645m).
The private equity firm invested NZD 200m in Partners Life in 2016 through its tactical opportunities strategy. At the time, it was described as the acquisition of a significant minority interest with a view to supporting a domestic IPO.
According to a filing by Dai-ichi Life, Blackstone owns 52.57% of the company. Three New Zealand-based GPs, which invested prior to Blackstone, also appear on the shareholder roster: Maui Capital, Rangatira, and Waterman Capital hold 9.3%, 4.93%, and 2.1%, respectively.
Founded in 2010 by Naomi Ballantyne as a small start-up, Partners Life has become one of the largest life and health insurance providers in New Zealand. As of March 2022, it had issued life insurance policies covering 225,000 people, had NZD 427.9m in annual premiums, and had paid out more than NZD 869m in accumulated claims since inception.
Total assets were NZD 1.32bn, up from NZD 1.13bn a year earlier. Over the same period, premium income rose from NZD 326m to NZD 370m, while net profit fell from NZD 18.9m to NZD 2.5m.
In late 2020, the company agreed to acquire National Australia Bank’s BNZ Life insurance business for NZD 290m. The transaction is pending approval by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The combined Partners Life and BNZ Life operation will be the country’s second-largest insurer based on in-force annualised new premiums with a 17% market share. AIA leads on 32%.
Dai-ichi Life will maintain Partners Life as a standalone business under Ballantyne and her executive team. The Japanese insurer, which has total assets in excess of USD 500bn, has made eight previous overseas acquisitions, including TAL – which has gone on to become Australia’s largest life insurer by market share – in 2011 and US-based Protective Life in 2015.
It regards the New Zealand market as attractive because insurance penetration is relatively low at less than 1%, protection and personal insurance products are highly profitable, and growth is expected to be stable.
“This transaction is a testament to the New Zealand market’s ability to create globally sought-after leaders in a traditional industry. We’re proud of how Partners Life has developed from a start-up into a large, fully integrated business over the last 12 years, playing an important role in New Zealand’s financial services sector,” said Stewart Taylor, CFO of Partners Life, in a statement.
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