New Zealand’s only locally owned insurer, Fidelity Life, has acquired the well-established Australian Lumley Life operation in NZ. Media sources say the group “beat off” up to 12 Australian contenders to acquire the group – which has been known to produce premiums of about $4 million a year.

Refusing to disclose how much the company spent on the takeover, Fidelity Life CEO Milton Jennings told local reporters: “When you see so much going one way across the Tasman it was nice to pull one back.”

Lumley Life was put on the market more than 12 months ago after its British parent, Edward Lumley Holdings, decided to sell its Australian and NZ general and life insurance assets for capital raising reasons.

Wesfarmers secured Lumley’s general, fire and life Australasian businesses and then on-sold the life business to South African insurer Prefsure Life. A few months ago Prefsure decided it wanted to concentrate on its Australian business and sought expressions of interest for the NZ life operation.