KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has confirmed that it is currently in talks over the stake sale in Singapore-based insurer Great Eastern Holdings Ltd.
“We are taking part in a process right now and we can’t talk too much as we bound by non-disclosure agreements but we will make the appropriate announcements when the time comes.
“We like the insurance sector and we think Malaysia is still under-insured and there is potential for growth there but it is definitely a sector that we have interest in,” said EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan after the dividend briefing held here, yesterday.
Asked on whether EPF would consider the listing of the insurance companies, Shahril said the option will be left to the owners of the insurance companies.
“From our point of view, we will look at it from our point of valuation. If we can get it at a decent valuation that makes sense for us in the long-term, and to our business partner, then yes, we will do it,” he added.
On February 5, it was reported that Great Eastern was in exclusive talks with EPF to sell a minority stake in its Malaysian insurance unit.
The deal was said to fetch as much as US$1 billion.
The talks with EPF is part of Great Eastern’s strategy to meet a Bank Negara Malaysia deadline, set for June, mandating that insurers operating in the country are at least partially owned by locals.
A stake in Great Eastern Life will enable EPF to leverage on the growth prospect of Malaysia’s insurance sector.
Great Eastern’s Malaysia unit, Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Bhd, is the oldest insurance company in the country.
It had over three million policies in force and a network of 17,000 agents in Malaysia in 2016.