Insurance Australia Group is set to sell its four Southeast Asian businesses in deals that could be valued at about $500 million, under a review of its Asian operations, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

IAG, Australia’s biggest general insurer by market share, has ventures in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia in Southeast Asia, and could complete the sale process by the third quarter, the people said.

Despite years of investments, Asia has proved a challenge for IAG. The insurer posted an underwriting loss in Asia of A$6 million ($4.63 million) in its fiscal first half of 2018, although that loss narrowed from A$9 million in the second half of 2017.

Asia’s overall earnings contribution decreased to A$10 million in 2017 from A$26 million a year earlier.

A spokeswoman for IAG in Australia said the insurer had announced plans to review Asia strategy, not to exit the region. She declined to comment on whether the company had made a decision to exit those specific markets.

Source: Retuers  2018-04-24