DBS Is Said to Shelve Plans for Asia Insurance Deal on Valuation
(Bloomberg) -- DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has shelved plans to form an insurance partnership in India and Taiwan after initial offers from prospective bidders didn't match value expectations, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Singapore-based lender and its advisers have paused work on the transaction, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A bancassurance agreement for the two Asian markets, as well as certain products in Singapore, had attracted interest from other insurers and financial services firms, the people said.
DBS could opt to revive considerations for potential deal in the future, the people said.
A representative for DBS declined to comment.
In September, Bloomberg News reported DBS was working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as it weighed forming insurance partnerships in India and Taiwan, and some products in Singapore, in a transaction that could have been valued at a few hundred million dollars.
DBS already has a bancassurance partnership with Toronto-based Manulife Financial Corp. for markets including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore.
DBS has had a presence in India for about three decades, having opened its first office in Mumbai in 1994. In 2020, DBS Bank India Ltd. merged with Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd., and it now has about 500 branches in 19 states, according to a recent press release. It entered Taiwan even earlier, in 1983, and has more than 70 branches across the island, expanding organically and via acquisitions including Citigroup Inc.'s consumer banking assets in the country in 2023.
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