Fortis to Double Asia Profit With Ping An Deal, Joint Ventures
Fortis, Belgium's largest financial services company, aims for Asia to contribute twice as much to profit by the end of 2009 after a tie-up with China's second- biggest insurer.
The company plans to collect 10 percent of net income from Asia, compared with 5 percent last year, Fortis's Asia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer Luc Henrard said to reporters in Hong Kong. To reach that goal, ``we have to consider potential acquisitions,'' he said, without elaborating.
The Dutch-Belgian bank earlier this month agreed to sell half of its global asset management business to Shenzhen-based Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. for 2.15 billion euros ($3.4 billion). Separately, the Chinese company bought 4.99 percent of Fortis itself since November to become its largest shareholder.
Ping An's investment “had nothing to do with” Fortis's solvency and was “purely because of a strategic fit,” Henrard said. The companies aren't discussing other forms of cooperation, he said.
“For the time being, the focus is on making asset management work,” he said.
Asia already generates 10 percent of profit for Fortis's asset management arm, which will be run as a joint venture with Ping An, he said. Other joint ventures in the region include one in Thailand, one in Malaysia and two in India, he said.
Linking up with Ping An will help Fortis achieve its goal of generating 30 percent of profit outside the region of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In Hong Kong, Fortis acquired Pacific Century Insurance Holdings in June last year. Fortis also received a banking license in Japan in December, enabling it to make corporate loans and provide financing for energy and shipping projects.
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