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Jakarta Post

MAG sets moderate target post-Fairfax buy

Publicly listed general insurer Asuransi Multi Artha Guna (MAG) is expecting moderate net premium income growth next year by focusing on new products following the company’s acquisition by Canadian financial holding firm Fairfax

Anton Hermawan (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, December 7, 2016

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MAG sets moderate target post-Fairfax buy

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ublicly listed general insurer Asuransi Multi Artha Guna (MAG) is expecting moderate net premium income growth next year by focusing on new products following the company’s acquisition by Canadian financial holding firm Fairfax.

MAG is targeting a range of 15 to 20 percent growth in 2017, banking on a number of new products, such as travel, health, and loan insurance, in addition to its existing vehicle and property insurance schemes, president director Linda Juliana J.L. Delhaye said.

The products would mainly be sold under bancassurance partnerships. Currently, the company has a long-term general insurance bancassurance partnership with the 7th largest bank by total assets in Indonesia, PT Bank Pan Indonesia (Bank Panin).

“After the acquisition, we will get expertise and knowledge transfer from Fairfax, then we can create new products in a more efficient way,” she said on Monday.

In October, Hong Kong-based Fairfax Asia Ltd., a subsidiary of the Fairfax Group that manages its operations in Asia, completed an 80 percent purchase of Asuransi MAG’s shares from Panin Group in a US$165 million deal.

Panin group retained 11.52 percent in the company. The remaining 8.48 percent was owned by the public.

As part of the transaction, Fairfax must integrate its existing 80% owned subsidiary, PT Fairfax Insurance Indonesia, with AMAG to ensure that it complies with the single presence policy requirements for insurance companies in Indonesia.

Barclays acted as exclusive financial adviser to Panin Group for the transaction.

In the third quarter, Asuransi MAG saw its net premium income dropped by 9.6 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 402.01 billion ($29.9 million). The company has attributed the decline to bigger reinsurance premiums it had to pay.

Fairfax Asia Ltd. chairman Ramaswamy Athappan, meanwhile, hinted that Asuransi MAG would carry out more aggressive expansion, as he wanted the company to increase its income from premiums fivefold in the next four years.

The local unit of Toronto-based financial holding firm Fairfax is optimistic about completing its merger with publicly listed general insurer Asuransi Multi Artha Guna (MAG) by year-end.

Fairfax Asia Ltd chairman Ramaswamy Athappan said Fairfax Insurance Indonesia’s portfolio, including 17,000 policyholders and 100 insurance agents, would be transferred to Asuransi MAG as the surviving entity. Asuransi MAG currently has 200,000 policyholders and 250 agents.

“After the portfolio transfer is done, we will return Fairfax Indonesia’s insurance license to the authority,” Athappan said.

Fairfax Asia, a subsidiary of the Fairfax Group, is the holding company for operating companies in Asia, which are spread across India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Athappan said the merger would benefit both companies, with Fairfax Indonesia focusing on the corporate market and Asuransi MAG on retail customers.

In June 2014, Fairfax Asia Ltd. acquired Batavia Mitratama Insurance and changed it to Fairfax Indonesia.

Shares in Asuransi MAG, traded on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) under the code AMAG, traded at Rp 372 apiece at Tuesday’s closing, a 2 percent increase compared to its opening.

The stocks have dropped 2.1 percent so far this year, easily underperforming the broader benchmark Jakarta Composite Index’s (JCI) nearly 15 percent gain.

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