Taiwanese Regulator OKs Chinatrust's US$180 Million Buy Of Metlife Unit

Taiwan's financial regulator said Thursday it has approved Chinatrust Financial Holding Co.'s (2891.TW) US$180 million acquisition of MetLife Inc.'s (MET) Taiwanese life insurance unit.

The Financial Supervisory Commission said that, according to the agreement, Chinatrust has three months to transfer funds to Metlife, at which time the deal will be formally approved.

The decision, which took more than five months for the FSC to reach, came after Chinatrust assured the regulator it would uphold the interest of the unit's policyholders and employees.

Taiwan's government carries out background checks on buyers, including their nationality and funding sources, if a merger or acquisition target is a local company or a local operation.

Chinatrust Financial, which owns Chinatrust Commercial Bank Co., Taiwan's largest credit-card issuer, has outlets in Taiwan, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Indonesia.

-By Paul Mozur, Dow Jones Newswires; 886 2 2502 2557; paul.mozur@dowjones.com

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