Samsung Life Insurance eyes major PH acquisition

South Korea’s Samsung Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is looking at business opportunities in the Philippines, including the possible purchase of a local life insurer.

This is according to industry sources with knowledge of the company’s interest in the growing prospects in the Philippines.

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc declined to confirm but said he met on Tuesday with a “foreign investor, which I think is dead set [on] establishing a commercial presence in the Philippines,” specifically in the life insurance sector.

Dooc described the firm as an “Asian company belonging to the largest conglomerate in its country.”

Dooc said the foreign insurance firm’s investment bankers had already met twice with Insurance Commission officials, showing “serious” interest to do business here.

According to Dooc, this prospective investor would likely pursue an acquisition deal “because they want to hit the ground running.”

When asked about a timeline of the foreign insurance company’s entry, Dooc said “they are not that type of nationals who want to be rushed; they want to be deliberative [and] they want a thorough study.”

Dooc noted that foreign insurance firms were keen on the Philippines due to the country’s large population, growing economy, and still low insurance penetration rate of 1.5 percent out of the about 100 million Filipinos.

Samsung Life Insurance claims in its website that it is South Korea’s “largest and most prominent insurer,” as well as one of the oldest in the country, having been established in 1957.

A part of the South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group, its principal products include life and health insurance, annuities, and other  financial services, it said.

Samsung Life Insurance had expanded overseas via joint ventures in China and Thailand.