Canada's Manulife Buys Wealth Firm in Taiwan

Tom Burroughes

21 August 2008

Manulife Financial has bought a Taiwanese wealth manager, boosting its business in Taiwan, where the government is forging closer political and financial ties with the massive consumer market in mainland China, Canadian publication Financial Post said.

The Canadian life-insurance giant has picked up Fuhwa Securities Investment Trust, an acquisition that adds seven new retail funds in Taiwan, 20 bank and security-firm distributors, and about $1.3 billion in assets under management.

The company did not disclose how much it is paying to buy Fuhwa from Yuanta Financial Holding.

However, local media have reported the deal is costing about $30 million, and was approved after regulators insisted on the sale in order that Yuanta comply with rules that forbid Taiwanese companies from owning more than one investment management company.

The purchase extends Manulife's wealth-management operations in Asia, which include businesses in Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as two new licences granted this year for operations in Singapore and Malaysia.

Manulife says its investment-management unit, MFC Global Investment Management, has $25 billion of assets under management in Asia, growing at 25 per cent a year.