SINGAPORE – Singapore Life Holdings (Singlife), the insurer that has grown through acquisitions, is on the lookout for more assets to buy, particularly in the South-east Asian markets of Indonesia and Vietnam. 

The Singapore-based firm, with its sights set on being a regional player, is also eyeing an initial public offering within five years, its group chief executive officer Pearlyn Phau said in an interview on Wednesday.

“Scale is important and there are markets in South-east Asia that are still pretty much under-penetrated in terms of insurance,” said Ms Phau, who joined the insurer in 2021 after almost two decades at DBS Group Holdings. “We are looking for opportunities for us to acquire and pick up some assets in the region.” 

The firm, which is backed by TPG and Japanese insurer Sumitomo Life Insurance, has been on an expansion drive since it obtained its licence in Singapore five years ago. It bought the business portfolio of Zurich Life a year after, and acquired Aviva’s Singapore business in 2020 in one of the city-state’s biggest insurance deals. 

Ms Phau said the firm, now known as Singlife with Aviva, is working to understand “very exciting” markets like Indonesia and Vietnam, and determine if they fit into the insurer’s overall strategy.

She prefers the acquisition route since licences, like what the firm received in the Philippines in 2020, may not be so easy to obtain. BLOOMBERG