Mitsui Sumitomo to buy Amlin

Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) has agreed to buy the UK’s Amlin in a USD5.3 billion all-cash deal that is expected to be completed by the end of March 2016, in a report in the Guardian.

“The combination will accelerate MSI’s strategy of growing its international business,” the Mitsui Sumitomo president, Yasuyoshi Karasawa, said in a statement.

Both firms operate a portfolio of non-life insurance businesses in the marine, aviation, property and liability sectors, while the British firm has a unit for reinsurance, a type of insurance bought by insurers.

Japanese insurance companies are on a buying spree as they pursue business outside their home market, where a shrinking population has stifled growth.