TAL buys Westpac’s life insurance business for $900m
Westpac has been advised on the sale of its life insurance business to TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia Pty Limited.
Firm: King & Wood Mallesons (Westpac); Herbert Smith Freehills (TAL)
Value: $900 million.
Area: M&A.
Key players: The KWM team was led by partner Meredith Paynter, who was supported by partners Jim Boynton, Nicole Heller, Sarah Yu, Wayne Leach, Peter Yeldham, Liam Burgess and Tim Bednall, and lawyers Jo Ruitenberg, Cal Maher, Charles Davies, Henry Sit, James McGrath, Sarah Mitchell, Esme Wong, Chris Kew and Georgie Parletta.
The HSF team was led by partner Nicole Pedler, who was supported by corporate solicitors Hudson Archer and Raul Vellani, regulatory partner Patrick Gay, senior associates Paul Burton and Tamanna Islam, special counsel Steven Rice and solicitor Shan-Verne Liew, employment partner Michael Gonski and solicitor Lucy Halliday, IT partner Kwok Tang and solicitor Thomas Gooch, and IP special counsel Amalia Stone.
Deal significance: Speaking about the transaction, Ms Paynter said: “The KWM team is delighted to have worked alongside, and supported, the team at Westpac with this significant transaction, particularly as it came so quickly after KWM’s role supporting Westpac with the successful sale of its general insurance business to Allianz.
“Both of these transactions represent significant strategic milestones for Westpac. We really appreciated the opportunity to ‘back-up’ for Westpac on this transaction, and to deepen our relationships, and to harness KWM’s significant financial services, data and technology, and regulatory expertise.”
Commenting further, HSF's Nicole Pedler said: “It is a privilege to be working with TAL on this significant transaction. The acquisition of Westpac’s life insurance businesses and ongoing strategic alliance with Westpac demonstrates TAL’s commitment to the Australian life insurance market, which we are delighted to be a part of.”
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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