Taiwan’s Waterland Financial Holding announced Monday it will pay 112.5 million US dollars for the acquisition of US insurance giant MetLife’s local unit.
Waterland, a group with interests in bills brokerage and securities, said the two companies had inked the contract and sent it to the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island’s top industry regulator, for approval. The deal will allow Waterland to control fully MetLife’s Taiwan unit, Waterland said in a statement.
“Waterland has been stable in maintaining profitability since it was founded, but the operation scale has been limited as our business has focused on short-term bills brokerage and securities trading,” it said. “Although MetLife’s Taiwan unit is small, its operation has been healthy and is exactly an investment target we have been looking for.”
Waterland, established in 2002 through the merger of three companies, pledged that all the more than 630 employees of MetLife’s Taiwan unit will be retained and the interests of MetLife’s clients unchanged.
Taipei, April 19, 2010 (AFP)
