Newbridge to acquire majority stakes in Union Insurance

Newbridge Capital, U.S. buyout firm is to pay $100 million for a majority stakes in Taiwan’s Union Insurance Co. Ltd., part of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group. Deal augmented Union Insurance shares by 6.9 percent, granted a pause to its trembling market. Private equity funds have been attracted by the Asia’s growth. Investors acquire low profit making firms, restructure them and turned them into a big profit maker in very short span of time. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding, and Newbridge will complete due diligence before Union Insurance announces its annual results. Union Insurance Investors were worried, as the other companies of Rebar Asia Pacific Group, were not doing well for several years. Fitch Ratings relegated Union Insurance’s national insurer financial strength after it proclaimed write-offs related to four Rebar companies.