TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia will acquire a 15.1 per cent minority interest from MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings for $8.46 per share.
This represents a 53 per cent premium to Challenger’s closing share price on 4 April, it said.
As a result of the sale, Masahiko Kobayashi from MS&AD will step down from his position as a non-executive director at Challenger.
Challenger chief executive, Nick Hamilton, said: “Dai-ichi Life is a global leader in life insurance and we look forward to building a relationship that will benefit both our customers and shareholders. We welcome their significant investment in our business and will explore future opportunities that support our strategic objectives.
“This is an exciting time for Challenger as we deliver our growth strategy and provide financial confidence to even more Australians in retirement.”
Last year, Challenger and Mitsui Sumitomo Primary Life Insurance Company – a subsidiary of MS&AD – renewed its reinsurance partnership for five years. Hamilton said this has “created significant shared value” since its introduction in 2016.
In September, Apollo Global Asset Management reduced its stake in Challenger from 20.1 per cent to 9.9 per cent as it said it intended to redeploy the capital to other growth opportunities. In light of this, Apollo Global’s representative and head of Asia-Pacific, Matthew Michelini, stepped down from the board.
Since the start of the partnership in July 2021, the two businesses had built a strategic partnership that included an asset origination and distribution partnership. This has provided Challenger Life with access to Apollo’s direct asset origination capabilities and it has also invested in Apollo’s private market and private equity strategies.
