Germany’s Allianz buys 51% of PH firm

GERMANY’s leading insurer Allianz is returning to the Philippine market after a 12-year hiatus with a deal to acquire a majority stake in the life insurance subsidiary of the Lucio Tan-led Philippine National Bank.

PNB has agreed to sell 51 percent of PNB Life Insurance Inc., one of the top 10 life insurers in the country, to Allianz SE, the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday.

PNB and Allianz have reached an agreement to enter into a 15-year exclusive distribution or bancassurance partnership. The joint venture company will operate under the name “Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc.”

The bancassurance agreement is seen to provide Allianz exclusive access to more than 660 branches of PNB nationwide and four million customers.

Allianz has thus gained a ticket back to the Philippines.

“The Philippines is a very fast-growing insurance market supported by a healthy economic outlook and a large, young population of over 100 million people,” said George Sartorel, CEO of Allianz Asia-Pacific. “The transaction with PNB is a unique opportunity to enter into the market with an established distribution network and it is part of building our strategic business platforms.”

“PNB has always provided innovative care to the Filipinos. Allianz will bring in a lot of experience, technology and new ideas that will benefit our customers and the Philippine market,” said PNB president Reynaldo Maclang. “This venture will allow us to offer world-class protection products and services that cater to the diverse needs of our customers.”

“The strong interest we drew from Allianz and other candidates was a welcome validation of the successful turnaround of PNB Life that we started six years ago,” said PNB Life president Esther Tan, who took on the top post at the insurance firm in October 2009. “We have grown from borderline relevance to a top 10 player and a major profit engine for PNB and the Lucio Tan group as a whole. This transaction is the next big step toward our vision to be a leading provider of financial security to Filipinos worldwide.”

Allianz previously operated in the Philippines a joint venture with the Pioneer Group for five years until its pullout in 2003, citing the group’s “business review in line with current and expected market developments.” That was at a time that the country was just emerging from the Asian currency crisis of 1997-1998 and the second “People Power” uprising that toppled then President Joseph Estrada in 2001.

Other foreign insurers like Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. of the US and Aegon NV of the Netherlands had also withdrawn from the local market at that time.

Allianz offers a comprehensive range of insurance and asset management products and services to 85 million customers in more than 70 countries. With around 1.8 trillion euros in assets under management, it is one of the biggest asset managers in the world. It runs two distinct investment management businesses, Pimco and Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), which both operate under Allianz Asset Management.

The German insurer counts as its strongholds the United States, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and the Asia-Pacific region.