KEY POINTSDai-ichi Life unit Partners Life agrees to buy New Zealand insurer Fidelity Life for NZ$630 millionAcquisition expands access to regional advisers and group insurance channels in New ZealandClosing is scheduled between March and July 2027, subject to regulatory approvals
Partners Life plans to acquire all shares in Fidelity Life, broadening reach in regional adviser and group insurance channels. Closing is set for March to July 2027. Photo by Sulthan Auliya on Unsplash
Sulthan Auliya
Dai-ichi Life Group said on September 3 that its New Zealand subsidiary Partners Group Holdings Limited had decided to sign a share purchase agreement to acquire Fidelity Life Assurance Company Limited, a New Zealand life insurer, in a deal valued at NZ$630 million, or about 59.6 billion yen.
Subject to approvals from relevant authorities, Fidelity Life will become a consolidated subsidiary of the Japanese insurer through Partners Life. Partners Life plans to acquire all 4,492,670 shares of Fidelity Life after receiving a capital injection from Dai-ichi Life’s intermediate holding company, and is expected to hold 100% of Fidelity Life’s voting rights indirectly after the transaction. Closing is scheduled between March 2027 and July 2027.
Dai-ichi Life said the acquisition would expand Partners Life’s sales channels and customer base in New Zealand and strengthen its competitiveness in the country’s life insurance market. Fidelity Life, founded in 1973 and based in Auckland, mainly sells protection products through independent financial advisers, or IFAs, while also having strengths in suburban and regional IFA networks and in group insurance channels.
Partners Life, established in 2010 and also based in Auckland, provides protection products and supports IFAs through its digital platform. Dai-ichi Life acquired full ownership of Partners Life in November 2022 as part of efforts to capture growth opportunities in developed markets, diversify geographically and generate synergies with TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia Pty Ltd, its wholly owned Australian subsidiary.
Fidelity Life’s major shareholders are Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation with 49.62%, Ngai Tahu Investments Limited with 24.93%, Fidelity Family Account with 14.64% and other shareholders with 10.81%.
Partners Group Holdings posted revenue of NZ$806 million for the year ended March 2026, up from NZ$712 million a year earlier, while net profit fell to NZ$35 million from NZ$48 million. Fidelity Life posted revenue of NZ$221 million for the year ended June 2025, compared with NZ$217 million a year earlier, and net profit rose to NZ$14 million from NZ$13 million.
Dai-ichi Life said the acquisition is part of its plan to raise the weighting of overseas life insurance operations in its business portfolio through organic growth and mergers and acquisitions. The company is targeting overseas life insurance to account for about 50% of group adjusted profit by fiscal 2030.
According to the release, the deal is expected to contribute about NZ$60 million annually to adjusted profit as early as the group’s next medium-term management plan period. The company also said the transaction would further reinforce Partners Life’s position among the leading players in New Zealand’s life insurance market.
New Zealand’s life insurance market is distributed heavily through adviser channels, making scale and access to different adviser networks an important competitive factor. Dai-ichi Life has been expanding overseas life insurance operations in recent years as Japanese insurers seek growth outside a mature domestic market.