An asset manager under Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings will grow immensely as it allies with major insurer NTUC Income.
The strategic partnership proposed between NTUC Income and Fullerton Fund Management Co. will see the former appoint the latter to manage its massive assets, worth SGD23 billion (US$17 billion).
NTUC Income, one of the largest life and general insurers in Singapore, will also get a "significant minority stake” in Fullerton, according to a report by
Nikkei.
Once the two firms’ assets are joined, Fullerton will have its assets under management (AUM) expand to more than SGD40 billion, making it one of the largest asset managers in Southeast Asia alongside the fund management operations of United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
“Income is always looking out for opportunities to create more value for our policyholders,” said NTUC Income chief executive officer Ken Ng in a statement. He added that proposed partnership would allow both companies to gain economies of scale.
There has been a trend of asset managers undergoing mergers to gain scale and decrease costs in the face of mounting competition from other investment types. Another insurer-asset manager partnership was Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management’s all-share merger earlier this year. The transaction created the UK’s largest fund manager with AUM of around £670 billion ($871 billion).
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