MANILA, Philippines — Leading global private equity firm Warburg Pincus is investing $350 million to set up Oona Insurance, a new digital insurance platform in Southeast Asia seeded with two recent significant acquisitions in Indonesia and the Philippines.
In partnership with seasoned insurance executive Abhishek Bhatia, Oona aims to become the pre-eminent digital general insurance platform in Southeast Asia through a buy-and-build strategy.
The platform is seeded with two significant acquisitions – PT Asuransi Bina Dana Arta Tbk (ABDA) in Indonesia and Mapfre Insular Insurance Corp. (MIIC) in the Philippines, both of which have a long-standing track record and reputation in their respective markets for providing quality products and superior customer service.
These assets bring Oona an initial product portfolio, strong distribution relationships, a robust infrastructure, and an immediate foothold in the region upon which to build its business. The companies will be rebranded as Oona in due course.
Operating in a large and fast-growing sector, Oona plans to deploy a unique value creation strategy to scale up into Southeast Asia’s leading digital general insurance platform with operations across multiple major markets in the region.
With the acquisition of ABDA and MIIC, Oona carries a wide range of products, including motor, property, and group health insurance, which are designed to be fit-for-market and well-suited to meet local customer demands. In addition, Oona plans to introduce new products such as travel, health as well as products that are emerging on the back of increasing adoption of internet, e-commerce, and digital payments.