EPF in talks to buy stake in Great Eastern

Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd is a unit of the Employees Provident Fund

KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore-based insurer Great Eastern Holdings Ltd is in exclusive talks with Malaysia’s largest provident fund to sell it a minority stake in its Malaysian insurance unit, a deal that could fetch as much as US$1bil, according to a source.

The talks with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is part of Great Eastern’s strategy to meet a Malaysian central bank deadline, set for June, mandating that insurers operating in the country are at least partially owned by locals. A stake in Great Eastern Life would allow EPF to ride on the growth prospect of Malaysia’s insurance sector.