SIAM COMMERCIAL BANK TO BUY PARTNER’S STAKE IN LIFE INSURANCE JOINT VENTURE

Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited (“SCB”) and New York Life Insurance Company jointly announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement under which SCB will acquire all of New York Life’s and its Thai affiliate’s ownership stake in Siam Commercial New York Life Insurance Public Company Limited (“SCNYL”) for Thai Baht 8.4 billion or about Baht 266.89 per share. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and SCB shareholder approval, and is expected to close in March, 2011. Formed by the partners in 2000, SCNYL is a joint venture among SCB, which owns 47.33%, and New York Life International, a subsidiary of New York Life that owns a 23.89% stake, and New York Life’s Thai affiliate, which owns a 23.44% interest. The remaining 5.34% of SCNYL is owned by public shareholders and, after the acquisition, SCB’s will own a 94.66% stake. SCNYL, a market leader with over Baht 24 billion in Net Premium Written revenue in 2010, generated impressive growth over the past 11 years and grew faster than the industry over that time period. Khun Kannikar Chalitaporn, President of SCB, stated, “We thank New York Life for its many contributions as we worked together over the last 11 years to build a highly competitive life insurance operation in Thailand committed to serving the people of Thailand. SCB views life insurance as an important component of our long-term strategy that complements our banking franchise, and we see enormous opportunity in the Thailand life insurance sector. We plan to continue the operation’s superior growth while building on its reputation for financial strength and operational and service excellence. As always, SCB remains committed to providing exceptional service levels and enduring value to nearly 12 million customers nationwide.” Dick Mucci, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life International, LLC said, “Today, the joint venture operation with Siam Commercial Bank produces the majority of its sales through the bank distribution channel, and SCB is very interested in fully integrating the operation into its consumer banking platform, as it has done with all of their other bank operations. Given SCB’s strategic focus and business model, both partners believe that the time has now come for SCB to take control of the business and for New York Life to divest our stake. ” Mucci concluded, “New York Life is proud of the important role that SCNYL has played in Thailand’s economic development – by encouraging Thai consumers to save and plan for the future, through employment and capital investment, and by bringing best practices to the Thai life insurance marketplace. We wish SCB much future success with SCNYL. We now look forward to focusing our resources to maximize the value of our remaining international businesses where we will continue to invest in future growth and profitability to benefit our policyholders.” Contact :Siam Commercial Bank Corporate Communications Division Tel: 02-544-4502, 02-544-4517, Email: [email protected] Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net

• ข่าวSiam Commercial Bank
• ข่าวNew York Life
• ข่าวo:eco
• ข่าวo:fin
• ข่าวen