Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. is planning to join the Millea Insurance Group to be formed by Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and two other insurers by around 2004, industry sources said Friday.
A formal announcement of the deal is expected by the end of this month, according to the sources.
Tokio Marine said that the Millea group, which includes Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co., is considering accepting Kyoei into the group, though nothing formal has been decided.
If the deal goes through, Kyoei will likely join the group around 2004 after altering its corporate structure from a mutual company to a stock company, the sources said.
Under the Millea group plan, Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire will integrate operations by setting up a joint holding company in April 2002.
Kyoei is strong in services for agricultural cooperatives, credit unions and other cooperative associations. It already has cooperative relations with Tokio Marine, and its participation in the Millea group is expected to boost the group's client base, they said.
The group is asking other life and nonlife insurers to also join.
Kyoei is ranked 13 in the nonlife insurance sector, with 174.5 billion yen in net premium income as of March 31, 2000. It has total assets of 772 billion yen and employs 3,000 people.