Manulife Rises After Report Company May Bid on Parts of AIG
By Sean B. Pasternak
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) --
Manulife Financial Corp., North America's largest insurer by market value, climbed as much as 4.3 percent after the Globe and Mail reported that the company may bid on parts of American International Group Inc.
Manulife rose 80 cents, or 2.2 percent, to C$37.67 at 11 a.m. in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, making it the third-biggest gainer on the 43-member S&P/TSX Financials Index.
The Globe and Mail said today that Manulife Chief Executive Officer Dominic D'Alessandro and other executives met with financial advisers last week to look at ways to take advantage of AIG's probable breakup.
AIG, which agreed to turn over control to the U.S. government last week in exchange for a federal loan of as much as $85 billion, has been affected by losses tied to the worst U.S. housing slump since the Great Depression.
Manulife may bid on an AIG business in the U.S. to expand its variable annuity business, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets wrote last week.
``Manulife is in a strong position to acquire these assets, in our view, given its existing expertise and scale in the market,'' RBC's Andre-Philippe Hardy wrote in a Sept. 15 note to investors.
Manulife spokeswoman Laurie Lupton declined to comment on speculation about potential acquisitions, citing company policy.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sean B. Pasternak in Toronto at
spasternak@bloomberg.net.