New medical products under Asiri brand:
Ravi LADDUWAHETTY
Softlogic Holdings’ proposed acquisition of Asian Alliance Insurance will see the merging of synergies of the businesses of the parent company in terms of health, motor and retail sectors.
Asiri and Central Hospitals are both owned by Softlogic Holdings and the acquisition of Asian Alliance Insurance would give these hospitals a tremendous boost and the competitive advantage of offering healthcare policies through AAIC, Softlogic Holdings Chairman Ashok Pathirage told Daily News Business yesterday.
“This is the only instance now in the Colombo Stock Exchange of a hospital company which is listed also owning a listed insurance company and there will be lots of opportunities of providing health cover to patients. “We see a definite growth in the sector. We will also be shortly going for new insurance products which will come under the Asiri brand,” he said.
Softlogic Finance currently offers leasing facilities for motor vehicles. The general insurance arm of Asian Alliance Insurance together with Daihatsu and new Ford agency both held by Uniwalkers, whose ownership and management of Softlogic group will provide synergies any business conglomerate would dream of, Pathirage said. “The insurance arm will also provide the large amount of consumer goods marketed by the retail divisions also to come under the Softlogic Group such as the National television and computer software and hardware as well,” he said.
“All consumer items sold by Softlogic Holdings will automatically be covered by insurance from AAIC which would tremendously boost the sales and there will be lots of synergies within the group, he said.
He said Softlogic was fortunate to buy Asian Alliance act Rs 120 per share when the current market price was Rs 140 per share. “It is a well managed company and we struck a deal in our bid to take the company to the next level of business,” he said. Asian Alliance Insurance Director and CEO Ramal Jasinghe said this was a very good move and he welcomed the new owners. “We would like to go to the next level of market development with the acquisition, consolidating the market position as the force to be reckoned with,” he said. Market sources also point out that Asian Alliance (AAIC) Price Earnings Ratio was lower than that of Softlogic and as a result of the proposed acquisition, Softlogic shares would be cheaper and attractive.
This was something investors have been expressing concern prior to the Initial Public Offering, they said. Asian Alliance Insurance Company’s Life insurance funds, under management, is around Rs 3 billion. This will give Softlogic Capital a tremendous fee based income from the fund management.
source - www.dailynews.lk
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