KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): Affin Bank Bhd announced that the merger between its general insurance arm AXA Affin General Insurance Bhd (AAGI) with Generali Asia NV was completed on April 1.
Affin Bank currently holds a 30% stake in the enlarged insurance company, while Generali will control the remaining 70%, the bank said in a bourse filing.
Affin Bank inked a business transfer agreement with Generali in December last year. The agreement entailed AAGI issuing 67.46 million shares (representing 36.71% of the enlarged and paid up share capital) worth RM765 million to Generali to complete the merger.
The merger will result in a dilution of Affin’s shareholding in AAGI from 47% to 30% in the enlarged AAGI, according to the filing in December last year.
Affin also said the business transfer agreement to effect the merger has been signed with Generali, MPIG and AAGI.
Prior to the merger, Affin Bank had on August last year disposed of its 21% equity interests in the joint ventures AXA Affin Life Insurance (AALI) and 2.95% stake in AAGI to Generali.
Besides, the Italian insurer also bought a 49% stake in AALI plus a 49.99% stake in AAGI from AXA.
The disposals saw the exit of AXA from the Malaysian insurance industry and made Generali the new JV partner for Affin Bank in the insurance operations.
The share price of Affin Bank settled unchanged at RM2.01, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM4.57 billion.