In Prudential’s first major deal
under the leadership of recently appointed CEO Tidjane Thiam, the
UK insurer has acquired United Overseas Bank’s unit UOB Life
Assurance (UOB Life) in a cash deal worth S$428 million ($306
million).

Established in 1990, Singapore-based UOB Life
had paid-up capital of S$371 million at the end of November 2008
and assets of S$2 billion. UOB Life complements Prudential’s
existing life unit in Singapore, which in 2008 recorded premium
income on an annual equivalent basis of £109 million ($175
million), making it as Singapore’s largest foreign life insurer by
market share.

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In line with a sharp fall in activity in
Singapore’s insurance market, Prudential reported premium income on
an annual equivalent basis of £52 million in the first half of
2009.

Though this represented a 20 percent fall
compared with the same period in 2008, it was significantly less
than the 64 percent fall experience by Singapore’s life industry as
a whole.

In tandem with the acquisition of UOB Life,
Prudential has entered into a 12-year bancassurance partnership
with UOB that will enable it to market and distribute its
investment, savings and protection products through UOB’s 414 bank
branches in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

Thiam said: “Our agreement with UOB enhances
our presence in Asia and strengthens our leading regional platform.
This bancassurance partnership offers us significant new profitable
growth opportunities in Singapore and Indonesia, and substantially
increases our scale in Thailand, a key market in the region.”

Separately, Prudential has announced its
Japanese life and health insurance unit PCA Life Insurance (PCA),
formerly Orico Life Insurance (OLI), will cease writing new
business. Local business conditions were cited as the reason.

Prudential entered Japan’s life market in 2001
following it acquisition of OLI for £133 million ($213 million).
Indicating lacklustre progress, PCA had 170,000 policies at the end
of September 2009, compared with OLI’s 240,000 at the time of the
acquisition.