The National Pacific Insurance has confirmed that after working together for over 40 years, they are now 100% owned by Tower Corporation Insurance out of New Zealand.
In October last year, Tower purchased an additional 22% stake in NPI from its second-largest shareholder for approximately $3.4m or 14.00 Samoan Tala per share, bringing Tower’s total shareholding to over 93%.
Following this acquisition, Tower sought to purchase the remaining shares from minority shareholders, via a compulsory acquisition as allowed under NPI’s governing documents and local laws.
Tower Insurance’s origins go back to 1869 when the Government Life Insurance Office (Government Life) was created in New Zealand, with its initial capital provided by the New Zealand government.
Government Life became a separate statutory body with the passing of the Government Life Insurance Act in 1953. It was renamed Tower Corporation in 1987 and in 1990 ownership was conferred to its policyholders with the passing of the Tower Corporation Act, allowing Tower to be owned as a mutual association.
In an email to its clients, NPI says over the next few months Tower will take over, and while the name will change, the products and services will not change.
Furthermore, the email says that Tower has taken care of Kiwi and Pacific communities for over 140 years. And together, they will continue our legacy of care and support.
Dedicated to the Pacific and started in New Zealand, Tower now “cares” for seven other countries across the Pacific including Samoa, Tonga, and American Samoa.
Last year Blair Turnbull, CEO of Tower, says that owning 100% of NPI is another milestone in Tower’s investment in the Pacific and enables Tower to streamline its New Zealand and Pacific operations.
“Through this acquisition, we are able to further streamline our Pacific corporate structure and also seek enhanced operational efficiencies.
“We are making positive progress around rationalising our product set as we move off the Pacific legacy systems onto Tower’s leading cloud-based technology platform.
“National Pacific Insurance is a valuable and growing part of our business. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, NPI has grown its revenue and we see a significant opportunity to grow it further.”
