Taiwan's Uni-President to sell off insurance JV stake to partner Allianz UPDATE

Taiwan's Uni-President to sell off insurance JV stake to partner Allianz UPDATE

	Published : Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:56 By : Agencies Print this Story

- (recasts lead, adds that other units of Uni-President group are also selling out to Allianz)

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Uni-President Enterprises Corp (1216.TW), President China Store Corp (2912.TW) and other Uni-President group members have decided to sell off their holdings in joint venture Allianz President Life Insurance to partner Allianz group, an official with the Taiwan group said.

'The agreement is for our group to sell off our 47 pct stake in the venture to Allianz group,' the official said.

Uni-President Enterprises announced today that it sold 24.17 mln shares in Allianz President Life to the joint venture partner, booking a capital gain of 102.28 mln twd from the transaction.

The shares were sold to Allianz's Italy-listed unit at 15.00 twd per share on Tuesday.

Another group company President International Development Corp sold 22.26 mln shares in the joint venture to Allianz, booking a gain of 96.67 mln twd, while President China Store sold 24.17 mln shares, realizing a gain of 120.47 mln twd.

Details of holdings of other Uni-President group members in the joint venture were not immediately available.

Prior to the transactions, Allianz group held a 50 pct stake in the joint venture while others owned 3 pct.

Meanwhile, Allianz said in a statement that it has agreed with the Uni-President group to take over the latter's shareholding in the insurance venture.

As a result, Allianz will hold almost 100 pct of the shares, it said, noting that the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Allianz President Life reported gross written premiums of 1.3 bln euro in 2006, and is number six among life insurers in Taiwan.

'We are excited about the prospect of taking over the majority shareholding and bringing this company under the umbrella of Allianz Group', Bruce Bowers, CEO of Allianz Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

'It will allow us to further strengthen financial management, international investment know-how and corporate governance of the company.'

Bowers added that the 'Uni-President group has been a reliable and supportive shareholding partner since we established our joint venture in 1999, and we will maintain our close relationship in future.'

This is the second major acquisition for Allianz in 2007 in Asia, following recent investment in Malaysian general insurer Commerce Assurance Bhd.

'We have a clear strategy for profitable growth in Asia Pacific. We want to expand consistently and continuously in all of our chosen markets, through organic growth and selected acquisitions,' Werner Zedelius, board member of Allianz SE (Munich), responsible for growth markets, said in the statement.

'By (securing) Uni-President group's shareholding, we reinforce our commitment to the Taiwanese economy and this large and important market', he added.

In today's trade, Uni-President Enterprises closed steady at 30.25 twd, while President Chain Store closed off 0.10 twd at 76.00.

(1 usd = 32.80 twd)

adela.lin@afxasia.com

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