CBA sells $500m Chinese life insurer stake
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has said that it is selling its 37.5% take in a Chinese life insurer to Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co for 3.2 billion yuan ($502.67m).
CBA said in a statement on Wednesday it will record an after-tax gain of about A$450 million ($341.01 million) on the sale of the stake in BoComm Life Insurance, which it jointly owns with China’s Bank of Communications Co Ltd.
The move is part of a bid focus on its core banking business and the completion of the sale will satisfy a condition to the sale of its life insurance businesses in Australia and New Zealand to Hong Kong’s AIA Group announced in September last year.
The deal is part of a growing trend among the bigger Australian banks to reduce their capital requirements as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group both also decided to exit a Cambodian joint venture earlier this month.
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