Mitsui returns to major M&A with $1.6bn First Capital buy

Mitsui Sumitomo has re-entered the large-scale P&C M&A fray
with a 3.3x book value agreement to buy Singapore's First
Capital.
The unexpected $1.6bn deal with Fairfax Financial will extend
the Japanese buyer's general insurance market leadership in the
Association of Southeast Nations (Asean) region, where gross
domestic product is expanding at around 5 percent and where
insurers tend to trade hands for higher multiples than in the
West.
It gives Mitsui the leading P&C insurer in Sin