Japanese insurer ups stake in PE-backed Singapore Life
Sumitomo Life will become the largest shareholder in Singapore Life (Singlife) – an insurer also backed by TPG Capital – having agreed to acquire Aviva’s 25.9% stake in the business for GBP 800m (USD 999m).
Aviva will receive GBP 500m for its equity interest and GBP 300m for two debt instruments, according to a filing. The divestment represents a further step in the simplification of UK-based Aviva's footprint following the sale of numerous international assets in 2021. Sumitomo Life, which already owns 23.2% of Singlife, will see its position increase to 49.1%.
TPG took a 35% stake in Singlife in 2020 in return for supporting the company's acquisition of Aviva's Singapore business for SGD 2.7bn (USD 2bn). The reorganisation impacted several existing Singlife shareholders, including Sumitomo Life, which was expected to end up with 20%. Aflac Ventures, Aberdeen Asset Management, and IPGL were left with a 20% interest.
The latest transaction appears to give Singlife an enterprise value of about GBP 3bn.
Singlife's absorption of the Aviva business created Singapore's largest life insurer. It followed the company's acquisition of Zurich Life Singapore in 2018. The product portfolio comprises medical and life insurance, car, travel, and home insurance, group insurance schemes, and assorted investment products.
Gross written premiums reached SGD 3.5bn in 2022, down from SGD 3.8bn in 2021. Over the same period, the company swung from a net loss of SGD 116.8m in 2021 to a net profit of SGD 257.4m. A surge in reinsurance commission income and changes in insurance contract liabilities were largely responsible for the turnaround.
Founded in 2014, Singapore Life claimed to be the first local independent life insurance company fully licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore since 1970.
As of 2019, it had raised nearly USD 100m in private funding. IPGL and Impact Capital, a division of Credit China FinTech Holdings, provided a USD 50m Series A round in 2017. The size of the Series B in early 2019 was not disclosed, but Aflac put in USD 20m. It was completed across several rounds, including USD 13m from Aberdeen Standard Investments.
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