Japan's Dai-ichi Life Co is in advanced talks to purchase Protective Life Corp of the United States, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, in what would be the biggest acquisition by a Japanese insurer.Protective Life has a market capitalisation of $4 billion. Nikkei business daily, which first reported the talks, said a deal would likely top 500 billion yen ($4.9 billion).Dai-ichi Life, Japan's second-largest private-sector life insurer by premium revenue, has been actively buying overseas assets. Its senior executives have said it has been looking for acquisition opportunities in the United States.A Dai-ichi Life spokesman declined to comment.
Protective Life Corporation is a holding company. Shares of PL traded higher by 0.35% or $0.18/share to $52.30. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $36.36 and as high as $54.48. On average, 364591 shares of PL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 338930.
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