[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the nation’s top non-life insurance company, said on May 7 it will buy a 20 percent stake in Vietnam-based non-life insurer PJICO with aims to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country.
The company will be buying the stake from Petorlimex, Vietnam’s state-run oil firm. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
PJICO is Vietnam’s fifth-largest non-life insurer with a 7 percent market share.
Samsung Fire established its operations in Vietnam in 2002 and its insurance premiums reached 53.8 billion won (US$47.3 million) there last year, with its pretax income totaling 6.0 billion won.
By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)