The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday that it approved the application of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) to acquire MetLife Taiwan Life Insurance Co (大都會人壽) in accordance with Article 12 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
On March 28, Chinatrust Financial, the nation’s third-largest financial services provider by assets, announced it had inked an agreement with MetLife Inc of the US to acquire its local unit for US$180 million (NT$5.2 billion) in a bid to expand into the life insurance market in Taiwan and China.
In a statement yesterday, the FTC said the merger application, which will see MetLife Taiwan become a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinatrust Financial, would not strip other firms of the opportunity to enter the life insurance market.
“The merger is not expected to pose a significant threat to the competition within the market and the deal is beneficial to the whole economy,” the FTC said.
Chinatrust Financial president Daniel Wu (吳一揆) said on May 11 that the company expected Financial Supervisory Commission to give its go-ahead for the purchase by the end of this month.
The FTC yesterday also gave the green light to Taiwan Mobile Co’s (台灣大哥大) purchase of a majority stake in Fubon Multimedia Technology Co (富邦媒體科技) via its 100 percent-owned Dafu Media (大富媒體). The FTC said the share purchase would allow the nation’s No. 2 telecom operator to increase its competitiveness in mobile communications, cable TV and online shopping via Internet or postal services.
“The commission does not forbid the deal because the benefit the deal creates for the economy would be larger than the negative impact it poses to market competition,” the FTC said in a separate statement.
In related news, Taipei-based China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) said yesterday its board had agreed to increase investment of up to 1.29 billion yuan (NT$6.47 billion) in Jian Xin Life Insurance Co (建信人壽) of China to cope with its Chinese subsidiary’s business expansion.
The Taiwanese insurer announced in December to spend 379 million yuan for a 19.9 percent stake in the Shanghai-based Jian Xin, which was formerly known as Pacific Antai Life Insurance Co (太平洋安泰人壽).
Jian Xin is expected to increase its paid-in capital to 7.3 billion yuan from current 800 million yuan, China Life said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
China Construction Bank Corp (中國建設銀行) owns a 51 percent stake in Jian Xin and China Life aims to use the second-largest Chinese lender’s network and client base to develop the life insurance business in China.
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