TORONTO (Reuters) – Sun Life Financial sees Asia as a priority for mergers and acquisitions and will ensure it has enough capital to deploy for deals before doing buybacks, Kevin Strain, who will become chief executive in August, said on Thursday.
With a “rapidly growing business” in Asia, employees will want to be in the office, and the company doesn’t expect to give up office space in the region as a result, even as it reduces its real estate footprint across North America, Strain said.
“We’ve got a few… businesses (in Asia) that could use some scale,” Strain, currently president and chief financial officer, said at a conference. “We would like to see Indonesia, Malaysia, (partnerships with banks) in Hong Kong, growth in India.”
(Reporting By Nichola Saminather)
