Insular Life (InLife) has agreed to sell its 40% stake in Oona Insular Insurance Corporation (Oona Philippines) to Oona Insurance Group, making it a fully owned subsidiary of Oona. This deal allows Oona to strengthen its foothold in the Philippines’ general insurance market. Despite the sale, InLife and Oona will maintain their cross-selling partnership.
InLife and Oona Insurance enter into agreement for Oona Insurance to fully own Oona Philippines
Manila/Singapore – December 7, 2023 – Insular Life (InLife) and Oona Insurance group (Oona) today jointly announced that they are entering into an agreement, with InLife selling its 40% stake in their non-life insurance joint venture, Oona Insular Insurance Corporation (Oona Philippines), making it Oona’s fully owned subsidiary. Oona Philippines and Insular Life will continue their cooperation arrangements to cross-sell insurance products in the Philippines.
The agreement is expected to further boost Oona Philippines’ status in the general insurance industry, building upon the series of innovations and services that it has brought to the Philippine market since it set up shop in the country last year. InLife, on the other hand, will focus on its core life insurance and healthcare business to sustain the momentum it has achieved in the last couple of years. Latest data show the life insurer jumped to number five at the end of this year’s first half in terms of its New Business Annualized Premium Equivalent. InLife plans to support its scale and innovation efforts in its operations and distribution channels in its bid to move further up the rankings.
“As InLife moves forward to achieve accelerated growth and continue in its journey to provide customer service excellence through digital transformation and innovation, we will continue to support Oona’s plan to strengthen its presence in the Philippines,” said Executive Chairperson Nina D. Aguas.
“We are deeply grateful to InLife for being a remarkable partner during our lift-off stage over the past year, and we look forward to maintaining our cross-selling partnership with InLife going forward. We are very optimistic and believe this move will help us push for higher growth as we position ourselves to be a major player in the Philippines’ non-life insurance market,” said Abhishek Bhatia, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Oona Insurance group.