HONG KONG and SINGAPORE, April 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- NASDAQ-listed AGBA Group Holding Limited "AGBA" today announced that it has entered into a sale and purchase agreement, dated 5 April 2023, to acquire Sony Life Financial Advisers Pte Ltd, a duly licensed financial adviser and insurance broker in Singapore. AGBA, together with its subsidiary, the "AGBA Group", is a leading one-stop financial supermarket headquartered in Hong Kong.
(Left) Yoshiki Moriyama Managing Director and CEO, Sony Life Financial Advisers Pte Ltd; (Right) Wing-Fai Ng, Group President, AGBA Group Holding Limited
Trusted by over 400,000 individual and corporate customers, the AGBA Group offers the broadest set of financial services and healthcare products in the Greater Bay Area in China. The AGBA Group has a unique collection of complementary businesses that blends market-leading businesses with emerging businesses models. It serves a large captive customer base, while at the same time unlocking growth through the introduction of innovative new wealth and health products and services through a variety of B2B and B2C distribution channels.
The latest acquisition marks a key milestone for AGBA; it is lucrative to its insurance and fintech businesses and expands access to key markets in Asia. While AGBA's primary focus is in the Greater Bay Area in China, Singapore was selected for expansion due to the island nation's position and reputation as a global center for innovation, business and finance. Ranked 10th place for average income by country, Singapore has is known to have one of the highest saving rates in the world.
Singapore is also home to one of the largest and fastest growing family office and wealth management centers in the world. AGBA believes its advanced technology and infrastructure in wealth management will offer the industry compelling solution sets in the long run.
Yoshiki Moriyama, Managing Director and CEO, Sony Life Financial Advisers Pte Ltd said,
"We are confident AGBA has the capabilities, resources and commitment to take SLFA to new heights. We will work together with AGBA to obtain regulatory and other approvals. As we do so, SLFA will continue to deliver the high standard of service that its customers have come to expect. When such approvals are given, Sony Life and AGBA are both committed to ensure an orderly and seamless transition. This agreement is good news for all stakeholders. We are committed to support AGBA and to ensure that SLFA is well positioned to succeed."
Wing-Fai Ng, Group President, AGBA Group Holding Limited said that beyond the Greater Bay area, Southeast Asia plays a key role in the development of financial service markets.
"Singapore, in particular, holds magnificent potential for this, given its strategic geographical location and status as a global centre for innovation and finance," Ng said. "As a company, AGBA will continue to leverage our existing infrastructure, business partners, and our large user base to optimise customer experience through technology". Ng added that AGBA will further strengthen its competitive advantages in procuring and financing new clients and partners.
"The acquisition of Sony Financial Advisers is a win-win solution for both companies as our businesses are similar and our products are complementary," Ng said. "Our expectation is for the latest acquisition of Sony Life Financial Advisers in Singapore to bring forth new prospects and promising business opportunities — especially in the Southeast Asian region."
About Sony Financial Advisors:
Sony Financial Advisers is a duly licensed financial adviser and insurance broker in Singapore which was established in 2017 and has become a distinctive retail financial services advisory firm that serves mass affluent retail customers (comprising Japanese residing in Singapore as well as local residents) for both their protection and investment needs.
About AGBA Group:
Established in 1993, AGBA Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ: "AGBA") is a leading one-stop financial supermarket based in Hong Kong offering the broadest set of financial services and healthcare products in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) through a tech-led ecosystem, enabling clients to unlock the choices that best suit their needs. Trusted by over 400,000 individual and corporate customers, the Group is organized into four market-leading businesses: Platform Business, Distribution Business, Healthcare Business, and Fintech Business.
Safe Harbor Statement:
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. When the AGBA uses words such as "may," "will," "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from AGBA's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the following: AGBA's goals and strategies; AGBA's future business development; product and service demand and acceptance; changes in technology; economic conditions; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against us following the consummation of the business combination; expectations regarding our strategies and future financial performance, including its future business plans or objectives, prospective performance and opportunities and competitors, revenues, products, pricing, operating expenses, market trends, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and our ability to invest in growth initiatives and pursue acquisition opportunities; reputation and brand; the impact of competition and pricing; government regulations; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in Hong Kong and the international markets AGBA plans to serve (including without limitation Singapore) and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing and other risks contained in reports filed by AGBA with the SEC, the length and severity of the recent coronavirus outbreak, including its impacts across our business and operations. For these reasons, among others, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors are discussed in AGBA's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. AGBA undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward–looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.
For more information about AGBA, please visit www.agba.com
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(Left) Yoshiki Moriyama Managing Director and CEO, Sony Life Financial Advisers Pte Ltd; (Middle) Almond Wong, Group Chief Operating Officer, AGBA Group Holding Limited; (Right) Wing-Fai Ng, Group President, AGBA Group Holding Limited
Group photo of senior management of AGBA Group and Sony Life Financial Advisers at the signing ceremony