Principal Financial Group has closed the acquisition of MetLife Afore, MetLife’s pension fund management business in Mexico.

Principal Financial said that the acquisition and integration will position its Principal Afore as the fifth largest Afore in Mexico with more than 7% market share.

The existing customers of MetLife Afore will now be part of Principal Afore in the next three months, as the Afores merge.

Principal Afore is owned by Principal Financial Group, a pension and retirement specialist that serves over 22 million customers around the world and has 25 years of experience in Mexico offering mandatory pension, voluntary long-term savings, and mutual fund products and services.

Principal Financial Group’s global pension business Principal International president Luis Valdes said: “Mexico is a growing and important market for Principal.

“We are committed to making investments in countries with a robust middle class to bring more people the long-term retirement and investing solutions they need to achieve a more secure financial future.”

With the closing of the transaction, Principal in Mexico will have around 3.4 million individual accounts for retirement with $12.3bn of assets under management.

Principal Mexico country head José Antonio Llaneza said: "We are excited to continue to build our business in Mexico and bring greater services and expertise to our clients and the assets they entrust to us.

“This purchase reflects our confidence in the pension system in Mexico and its ability to provide financial well-being for Mexicans when they enter retirement.”

The acquisition was announced last October. Principal stated that it intends to grow across in the mandatory pension, voluntary long-term savings, and mutual funds businesses.

Principal stated that by integrating MetLife Afore, the company will gain an additional scale, a larger distribution network and the capability to better support its Mexican customers with advice and customized tools.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.


Image: Principal Financial Group office in Hong Kong. Photo: Courtesy of DaviSements/Wikipedia.org.