OREANDA-NEWS. Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada ("Sun Life"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX/NYSE: SLF) and PVI Holdings (HNX: PVI, "PVI") today announced an agreement whereby Sun Life will increase its equity ownership in PVI Sun Life Insurance Company Limited ("PVI Sun Life" or the "Company"), their joint venture insurance company in Vietnam, from 49% to 75% by acquiring from PVI an additional 26% of the charter capital of the Company. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Vietnam and Canada and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.

PVI Sun Life benefits from both parties by leveraging Sun Life's global expertise and experience in life insurance and pensions and PVI's strong Vietnamese brand, reputation, customer base and distribution strengths.

"As we increase our ownership in PVI Sun Life, we look forward to further sharing Sun Life's enterprise and regional Asian expertise and capabilities with the Company," said Kevin Strain, President of Sun Life Financial Asia. "We are also delighted to continue our successful partnership with PVI. We view this investment as a confirmation of our long-term commitment to PVI and to Vietnam. We are committed to helping the Vietnamese people achieve lifetime financial security by offering a strong suite of insurance and wealth management products."

"PVI is pleased to be continuing its successful partnership with Sun Life and will remain deeply involved in PVI Sun Life both as a strategic investor and as a distribution partner," said Bui Van Thuan, CEO of PVI.

Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia in recent years and the life insurance and pensions industry is expected to continue experiencing strong growth. Since its launch in 2013, PVI Sun Life has established itself as the sixth largest life insurance provider and a market leader and industry pioneer in pensions.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.