Spanish business group acquires First Metro stake in local unit

Corporacion Mapfre, the holding company of Sistema Mapfre of Spain, announced that it recently acquired the P170-million stake of First Metro Investment Corp. in Mapfre’s local business unit, Mapfre Asian Insurance Corp. The acquisition enabled Corporacion Mapfre to substantially increase its holding in Mapfre Asian from 53.3percent to 93.3 percent.

The move to invest an additional P170 million reflects Corporacion Mapfre’s continued confidence in the Philippine market despite the difficult market conditions prevailing in the country.

The Mapfre Group is Spain’s biggest insurance conglomerate with revenues reaching over 9 billion euros (P500 billion). The group has a total of 220 different companies within the system with offices located in over 36 countries worldwide. It also has a total of 3,000 offices as well as close to 17,000 employees and 45,000 agents employed by the group globally.

Sistema Mapfre has committed exposure in an assorted mix of business activities, ranging from insurance and reinsurance, assistance services, banking, finance, investment and real estate. Its operations are concentrated mostly in Europe as well as Central and South America.

The past year proved to be another successful year for the Mapfre Group as it ended 2002 with a reported consolidated net income of about 440 million euros P25 billion).

Corporacion Mapfre entered the Philippine market with the acquisition of then-Provident Insurance Corp., the insurance concern of local business group A. Soriano Corp. Mapfre Asian Insurance Corp. has its headquarters in the Madrigal Business Park situated at Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City. Its sister companies, Mapfre Re. And Ibero Assistencia, are based in Makati.