Insular Life and Oona Philippines Holding Corp. form joint venture to take full control of Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp. (MIIC)

Insular Life (InLife) has entered into a joint venture agreement with Oona Philippines Holding Corp. to take the full control of Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp. (MIIC).

In statement, Nina Aguas, InLife executive chairperson, said the Filipino-owned life insurance firm increased its stake in MIIC from 25 percent to 40 percent, while Oona will acquire the remaining 60 percent shares in the company.

The deal follows Mapfre Internacional SA of Spain’s earlier decision to exit its business interests in Asia, including the Philippines.

“We attracted a significant investor for our non-life businesses,” Aguas said. “The joint venture will allow for our current and future distribution channels to scale up and provide stronger and better general insurance products delivered using technology.”

Aguas said InLife will leverage on Oona’s capability-building and value-creation capacity to strengthen their reach and allow both to increase relevance and cooperation.

“The complementary strengths of both companies will propel both companies to leadership position in providing relevant and timely solutions to the current and evolving needs of our markets,” Aguas said.

“This will give us more arsenal to pursue our growth trajectory for our non-life businesses as we become stronger players in the digital economy,” he added.

Abhisek Bhatia, Oona group chief executive officer said they are delighted to partner with InLife.

“Together we will build the leading digital general insurer in the country. Our shared values of customer first and digital enablement will drive future growth for the business,” Bhatia said.