Almost two years on, American
International Group (AIG) has finally received approval from
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to sell its 97.57%
stake in Nan Shan Life to a consortium led by a unit of Taiwanese
conglomerate Ruentex Group’s Ruen Chen Investment Holding Company.
The cash deal is worth $2.16bn.
The deal with Ruen Chen
Investment and its partner, Taiwanese footwear manufacturer, Pou
Chen Corporation, was announced in January 2011.
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The deal followed the FSC’s
rejection of a $2.15bn bid for Nan Shan made by a consortium led by
Hong Kong-based financial services company Primus
Financial.
The FSC has placed a number
of conditions on the deal with the Ruen Chen consortium. Among
these, the consortium must deposit TWD6bn ($206m) into a special
custody account as a form of security.
Established in 1963, Nan Shan
is Taiwan’s largest life insurer by total book value and third
largest by total premiums behind Cathay Life and Fubon
Life.
Nan Shan, which reported
premium income of TWD212bn in 2010, has four million policyholders,
eight million policies in force, 24 branches, 500 agency offices,
about 4,100 employees and 33,000 agents. Nan Shan has total assets
of about TWD$1.8trn.
AIG anticipates reporting a $1.4bn loss on the sale of Nan
Shan.
