MetLife in discussions to buy PineBridge's non-China assets - Bloomberg News

Investing.com -- MetLife (NYSE:MET ) is in advanced deliberations to purchase PineBridge Investments' assets outside of China in a deal that could be worth $1 billion to $1.5 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.

The US insurer is exclusively speaking with PineBridge, which is majority owned by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li's Pacific Century Group, about its assets under management amounting to around $100 billion, Bloomberg said.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg added that MetLife has outbid other financial institutions, making it the most likely buyer of the assets. The exclusivity of the talks means MetLife will be allowed to finalize the details of the deal over the coming weeks, Bloomberg said.

Pacific Century has been mulling a sale of PineBridge that would exclude its China-based joint-venture with Huatai Securities, which oversees more than $70 billion in assets, Bloomberg noted.

Pacific Century previously bought PineBridge from American International Group (NYSE:AIG ) for $500 million in 2010, when the insurer was offloading assets to pay back government bailout funds. PineBridge's portfolio of clients is varied, including official institutions, insurance firms and pension plans.

Although the process is in an advanced stage, the discussions are ongoing and no final decision has been taken, Bloomberg reported.

Metlife did not immediately respond to request for comment, Reuters reported, adding that PineBridge declined to comment.

Shares in New York-based MetLife were little changed in premarket US trading on Monday.

In July, MetLife posted stronger-than-anticipated second-quarter profit fueled by solid returns from its group benefits division. Net investment income also moved up to $5.21 billion in the three months ended on June 30 versus $5.07 billion in the year-ago period, reflecting a boost to its fixed-income assets from higher yields. Insurers like MetLife have been plugging portions of the cash they generate from premiums into low-risk assets and market-linked securities.

(Reuters contributed reporting.)

Source: Investing.com