Tower to buy Aetna policies

New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has given permission for the takeover of Aetna Insurance’s 40,000 health insurance policies by Tower. Aetna sold its New Zealand subsidiary to the country’s largest health insurer, the Southern Cross Healthcare group, earlier this year but the group is thought to be willing to sell at the right price. The two companies have yet to agree a selling price but negotiations are well down the track. Last month Tower paid NZ$16mn (US$6.5mn) for Axa Health. This made it second only to Southern Cross in NZ health insurance.