Life insurer Partners Life appoints Minto as new chairman

Thursday 26th January 2017

Partners Life, a life insurance company whose owners include private equity firm Blackstone, has appointed Jim Minto as its new chairman, the company said today.

Minto will replace Sam Knowles, who will stay on as a director for both Partners Life and its immediate parent Partners Group Holdings.

Managing director and founder Naomi Ballantyne noted that Minto has been a "prominent presence" in Australia and New Zealand's life insurance industries for more than three decades. His previous roles include managing director of Tower Trust NZ, Tower Managed Funds, Tower Health and Life New Zealand, chief executive of Tower NZ and Australia and CEO of Tower. For the past 10 years he has been CEO of TAL, Australia's largest life insurer. He is currently a director of AFG Australian Finance Group and Dai-itchi Life Asia Pacific.

Launched in 2011, Partners Life now serves nearly 140,000 customers in New Zealand. Products include life insurance, income protection, medical insurance, disability insurance, trauma cover and business risk protection. In May last year, Partners Group entered into a subscription agreement with Blackstone to invest $200 million in three tranches over the next two years, which it said would give the buyout firm "a significant minority position" in the company. Blackstone currently owns 23 percent.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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