Mid-tier insurers Nipponkoa Insurance Co. and Taiyo Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced Friday a tieup that includes the merger of Nipponkoa and Taiyo's property insurance subsidiary in April.

"We hope to sell packages that combine life and property insurance and to make full use of the two companies' sales channels," Masahiro Yoshiike, president of Taiyo Mutual told a news conference.

Under the agreement, Taiyo Mutual will sell Nipponkoa's automobile and property insurance through its network of 11,000 sales representatives. The tieup will further help the development and sales of nursing- and medical-insurance products, Yoshiike said.

Taiyo Mutual is allied with Daido Mutual Life Insurance Co. and is part of the T&D Insurance Group.

Nipponkoa will effectively acquire Taiyo Mutual's subsidiary, Taiyo Fire & Marine Insurance Co., whose premium revenues for fiscal 2000 -- 10.7 billion yen -- were among the lowest for property insurers.

Nipponkoa completed a merger in April that combined Nippon Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Koa Fire & Marine Insurance Co. This led to a slowdown of sales for the first half of this fiscal year, said Ken Matsuzaka, Nipponkoa's president and CEO.

"Mergers are a lot of work, even when you think you are fully prepared," Matsuzaka said. "But we are now fully ready to move on to the next step."

A tieup in which Nipponkoa would sell Taiyo Mutual's products is an issue for future consideration, he said.

Company presidents denied large layoffs of Taiyo Fire personnel. At the end of June it had 150 employees, many of whom will be transferred to Taiyo Mutual, Yoshiike said.