(October 17 16:55 ET) – Industrial-Alliance Life Insurance Co. and Les Mutuelles du Mans of France, owners in equal shares of Unindal Inc., have entered into an agreement in principle making Industrial Alliance the sole owner of Unindal. Unindal is a portfolio company that owns Industrial Alliance Auto and Home Insurance.
“This transaction allows us to take another step in our strategy to develop the auto and home insurance market, a natural complement to our life and health insurance operations,” declared Yvon Charest, Industrial Alliance’s president and CEO. “Our strategy in this market is very simple: expand the line of products offered by our life insurance representatives so that they can meet all of our clients’ insurance and financial services needs.” Industrial Alliance Auto and Home Insurance offers its products through direct distribution, in partnership with Industrial Alliance representatives.
“It is with a certain nostalgia that we are leaving the general insurance market in Canada,” remarked Charles Skrzynski, director of international operations at the Mutuelles du Mans Assurances France, the parent company of Mutuelles du Mans Canada.
The agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, ends a 10-year partnership between Industrial Alliance and Mutuelles du Mans. The two companies had combined under a single portfolio company their own general insurance companies, including Industrial Alliance Auto and Home Insurance for Industrial Alliance and the Canadian Union Insurance Company for Mutuelles du Mans. The Canadian Union was sold last year, marking the first step in Unindal’s restructuring process.
-IE Staff