Fubon Life is 鈥渁ctively looking鈥� for properties in Europe for its first overseas real estate investment.
The insurer, a unit of Taiwan鈥檚 second largest financial holding company, has already established 鈥渁 close working relationship鈥� with some local advisers in Europe, according to Howard Lin, spokesperson and CIO of Fubon Financial Holdings.
The company, which has $74bn (鈧�54bn) in assets under management as of March, is looking at London and Paris, as well as major German cities, Lin said.
Fubon Life plans to invest as much as $3bn in overseas real estate in the next 3-4 years 鈥� which would practically double the size of its current real estate portfolio.
鈥淭his is a rough estimation of our investment capacity,鈥� Lin said. 鈥淲hether this can be realised will depend heavily on if we can find good opportunities that meet our selection criteria.鈥�
Fubon Life is looking for investments to provide them with 鈥渟table returns鈥� and also a 鈥減otential for capital appreciation鈥�, Lin added.
鈥淭he European market is highly competitive at the moment,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e are moving quickly to cope with market dynamics.鈥�
Once it has found investment targets, it will seek approval from regulators, he said.
To curb high domestic property prices, the Taiwanese government relaxed foreign investment rules in April last year, allowing domestic insurance companies to invest abroad for the first time.
Fubon Life 鈥� which currently holds $3bn in domestic real estate 鈥� is also looking at offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing.
The company is interested in commercial properties with stable income in the Taipei metro area.
Lin said one of its strategies was to 鈥渟electively participate in bidding for leasehold or BOT [build-operate-transfer] projects initiated by the government鈥�.
Taiwan鈥檚 largest insurance company, Cathay Life, received approval to invest 拢400m (鈧�489m) in London real estate.
Last year, Taiwan鈥檚 Financial Supervisory Commission recommended cities for domestic life insurance firms to consider, including New York, London, Toronto, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City.
