IAG gets ACCC tick on Wesfarmers’ insurance takeover
By Suze Metherell
March 26 (BusinessDesk) – Insurance Australia Group, New Zealand’s largest general insurer, has gained approval from
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for its A$1.845 billion purchase of Wesfarmers’ insurance underwriting
business.
But the Australian owned company, which trades in New Zealand under the State, NZI and AMI brands, is looking to buy
Wesfarmers’ WFI and Lumley Insurance brands, and is still waiting for approval from New Zealand’s equivalent competition
regulator, the Commerce Commission, as well as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and two other Australian regulators.
New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office approved the deal earlier this month.
The Commerce Commission extended the deadline for its decision by a month to the end of April, and has received nine
submissions, including one which the submitter asked to remain private.
Insurance Brokers Association New Zealand have expressed concerns over competition in the market. After the proposed
merger, IAG would have a 52 percent New Zealand market share, with the second largest competitor Suncorp’s Vero at 25
percent, it said in its submission. Suncorp’s submission to the Commerce Commission opposed the merger in New Zealand.
Multisure Risk Managers, the Motor Trade Association, Bus and Coach Association, the Rental Vehicle Association, and the
Collision Repairs Association all made submissions to the commission over the merger, expressing concerns about
competitiveness in the insurance industry.
In Australia, however, the ACCC found “no objection” to the takeover.
IAG and Wesfarmers were “the first and fifth or sixth-largest general insurers in Australia, respectively” and are also
the nation’s largest rural insurers.
“The ACCC found that, while the proposed acquisition would reduce the number of key underwriters from six to five for
packaged farm insurance and crop insurance in Australia, the level of existing and potential competition in this market
would be expected to constrain the merged firm,” Rod Sims, ACCC chairman said in a statement.
IAG announced the deal last December and is confident the transaction will be completed by June 30.
(BusinessDesk)