Japan’s Sumitomo Life Insurance Company (Sumitomo Life) has increased its stake in Singapore Life Holdings (Singlife) with a capital injection of about $133 million.
Singlife issued over 23 million new shares to the Japanese company, representing 4.92% of its increased share capital. Following the capital injection, Sumitomo Life owns 27% of Singlife, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
The latest investment will be used to support Singlife’s business growth. Sumitomo Life considers Singapore as a key market within its overall Southeast Asia strategy.
In September this year, Sumitomo Life had agreed to buy a 25.9% stake in Singlife for around $1 billion from British insurer Aviva.
Singlife had merged with Aviva’s local unit in 2020 at a combined valuation of S$3.2 billion ($2.3 billion). The merged entity was rebranded as Singlife with Aviva in 2022.
Singlife, which is backed by TPG, obtained its licence in Singapore in 2017. It then acquired the business portfolio of Zurich Life a year later and bought Aviva’s Singapore business in 2020 for S$3.2 billion in one of the city-state’s biggest insurance deals.
The company is the exclusive insurance provider for the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, and Public Officers Group Insurance Scheme in Singapore.
Singlife reported a net profit of about $193.4 million in 2022 against a loss of $95.86 million in 2021. The profit growth was attributed to strong underwriting results from its insurance portfolio and a financial reinsurance arrangement that the company entered into in 2022.