Discovery wagers R1,56bn on UK growth

12.05.10

DISCOVERY Holdings , SA’s largest medical scheme company, is to buy the UK’s fourth-largest private medical insurer, Standard Life Healthcare, for R1,56bn.

It is Discovery’s second big recent foray into global markets, after it said last December that it would acquire a 24,99% stake in China’s Ping An Healthcare from that country’s second-largest insurer, Ping An.

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said yesterday that the Standard Life Healthcare acquisition, likely to be effective from July 31, would create a new competitor of scale in the UK with about 700000 members and attract annual premiums of about R4,1bn.

 Gore said the purchase would provide PruHealth Holdings — the holding company of PruHealth and PruProtect, the joint ventures between Discovery and UK-based Prudential Assurance — with complementary assets to strengthen its competitive position.

Discovery has aimed to grow its presence in the UK since the launch of PruHealth in 2004, and Gore said organic growth — rather than the Standard Life acquisition — would have been a “slow and difficult process.........for more go to  ......

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