Great Eastern in talks with Malaysia's largest pension fund

SINGAPORE (Feb 5): Singapore-listed Great Eastern Holdings is said to be in exclusive talks with Malaysia's state-owned pension fund to sell it a minority stake in its Malaysian insurance unit.

The deal between Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund could fetch as much as US$1 billion ($1.3 billion) though negotiations are in early stages and there is no certainty a transaction will materialise, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) has over 3 million policies in force and a network of 17,000 agents in Malaysia at the end of 2016. As of last Sept, the fund managed 771.2 billion ringgit ($261 billion) worth of investment assets.

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