UK insurance group Aviva signs a joint venture partnership with PT Astra to distribute its products in Indonesia.

UK insurer Aviva has partnered with Indonesia's PT Astra International to create a 50-50 joint venture that would allow the former to sell and distribute life insurance products in Indonesia.

Under the terms of the deal, Astra Aviva Life, the new venture, will become the preferred provider of a range of life insurance products to Astra and its subsidiaries. Subject to approvals, the JV will enter into distribution agreements with the Astra group companies and offer life insurance to the wider consumer market through varies digital, agency and partner channels. 

Indonesia has 245 million people and recorded a 6.2 per cent gross domestic product growth in 2012. It is one of the fastest growing life insurance markets globally, with low levels of penetration and a rapidly expanding middle class. From 2000 to 2012, life insurance premiums went up at a compound annual growth rate of 25 per cent, said the firm in a statement. 

The venture is expected to be launched before the end of 2014.