Aeon Financial has agreed to purchase a 60% stake in Allianz’s Japanese business in a deal valued at JPY3.6bn ($32.87m).
The deal marks the foray of Aeon into the life insurance market of Japan.
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The German insurer will continue to own the remaining 40% stake in Allianz Life Insurance Japan.
Aeon Financial Service and Allianz have also agreed to create a joint venture to develop and sell life insurance solutions in Japan.
Allianz, which entered Japanese market in 2008, ceased selling new life insurance products in the country 2012 due to poor business performance.
Currently, it serves more than 20,000 insurance policies.
The deal will complement Aeon as it runs an insurance agency business, but does not have its own life insurance unit.
Allianz in a press statement said: “The strategic partnership will combine Allianz’s global financial expertise in insurance and risk management, alongside the local retail expertise and expansive distribution network of AFS and the Aeon Group.”
In November last year, Allianz received the regulatory green light to operate a fully-owned insurance holding company in China.
Approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) followed the Chinese government’s decision to open up its financial services sector by scrapping restrictions on foreign ownership limits.
IN the same month, the German insurer partnered with Microsoft to simplify the process for insurance companies.
Under the collaboration, Allianz will transfer core operations of its global insurance platform Allianz Business System (ABS) to Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
