Dai-ichi Life Insurance buys life unit of Australia's Suncorp for $540m

Australia represents an attractive market for Japanese insurers amidst shrinking markets back home.

Reuters reports that Australia’s Suncorp Group is selling its life insurance division to Dai-ichi Life Holdings for $540m (AU$725m) in a deal that fortifies the market dominance of the Japanese firm in Australia’s insurance market after it spent $891.17m (AU$1.2b) in 2011 to buy out Australia’s then second largest life insurer TAL.

Regional insurers are steadily growing their footholds in Australia amidst shrinking markets back home and the lure of Australia’s heated population growth.

Suncorp’s sale is the latest in a list of life insurance divestments by Australian firms as insurers grapple with tighter capital regulations like their banking counterparts.

Nippon Life Insurance Co bought most of Australia’s No. 3 life insurer, National Australia Bank’s MLC unit, in 2015 whilst Zurich Insurance Group AG and Hong Kong-based AIA Group Ltd (1299.HK) also spent billions buying local operations from ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank respectively.

Here’s more from Reuters: