Mapfre Asian, Insular General merge into single non-life insurance firm

Mapfre Asian Insurance Corp. and Insular General Insurance Co. Inc. have merged into a new company to be known as Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp., catapulting the merged entity to eighth place in terms of earned premiums in the non-life insurance industry.

Corporacion Mapfre of Spain will control 75-percent equity of the new non-life insurance company while Insular Life Assurance Co. Inc. holds on to the balance of 25 percent.

Mapfre Asian Insurance Corp. is a subsidiary of Corporacion Mapfre and is ranked among the top 10 non-life insurance companies in the Philippines. It controlled nearly three-percent market share of the country’s non-life insurance market, with premiums earned totaling P293 million in 2003.

"The merger presents an opportunity to leverage Insular Life’s sales and agency network and other allied distribution channels in order to market our products," Luis C. La O, board chairman and chief executive officer of Mapfre Asian said in a statement.

Consolidated assets will stand at P1.8 billion and equity will increase to around P900 million.

Corporacion Mapfre is an international financial group with an asset base of $30 billion. The group is engaged in insurance, fund management, and reinsurance, and has extensive operations in 39 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia with over 3,800 offices and close to 20,000 employees.

Last year, its total revenues amounted to $12.7 billion and net profits to $660 million.

It carries a strong "AA " credit rating from Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Insular Life, on the other hand, is the third largest life insurance company in the country and the pioneer in the domestic life insurance company.

It has a network of more than 100 branch offices nationwide with 2004 consolidated total assets of P41.4 billion and net income of P1.06 billion.

InsularGen wrote gross premiums worth P190.7 million last year. Retainable motor and fire portfolio comprised 65 percent and 30 percent of total premiums, respectively.

Other Insular Life subsidiaries are Insular Investment and Trust Co. (IITC) and HomeCredit.

Corporacion Mapfre manages 244 companies worldwide, with 103 situated in Spain and 141 in other countries including Europe and Latin America. Its services include managing investment funds, pension funds and pension plans, real estate and other service businesses.

In 2004, consolidated earnings reached 10.577 million euros, while gross profit was 784 million euros. Total consolidated assets stood at over 24.693 million euros.