Hong Kong's FWD Group, backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, has revived talks about a potential acquisition of the life insurance operation Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) after a two-year hiatus, reported Bloomberg.

SCB had reached a preliminary pact with FWD on a potential life insurance partnership, the bank told the Stock Exchange of Thailand last Friday. A deal would see FWD acquire SCB Life Assurance and sign a long-term distribution agreement with the bank, according to the filing.

FWD and SCB have entered into exclusive negotiations to finalise terms of a transaction, the filing shows. The business could be valued at around $3bn, people with knowledge of the matter said. A deal at that price would be the biggest ever acquisition of an insurer in Southeast Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Thailand is attractive to most insurers, especially foreign ones, because the proportion of insurance policy holders are still low compared with the entire population,” said Adisorn Mungparnchon, an analyst at Phillip Securities. “SCB’s bank branch network will also be a key platform for FWD’s sales.”

The final price tag would depend on the outcome of due diligence, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. No binding agreements have been reached, and there is no certainty the discussions will result in a deal.

SCB had unsuccessfully explored a sale of its life insurance business back in 2017 at a mooted valuation of around $3bn. It held talks with potential buyers including FWD, AIA Group, Manulife and Prudential, though discussions ultimately fell apart over price, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

An acquisition of SCB Life Assurance would help FWD expand in a country where it already has more than 900,000 customers. In 2018, SCB Life and FWD were ranked fifth and eighth, respectively, in terms of market share of total premiums in Thailand, according to Thai Life Assurance Association data.

FWD, which manages more than $28bn of assets and is backed by Swiss Re, has 3m customers spread across eight Asian markets, according to its website.

FWD has been acquisitive as it expands across Asia. It agreed last October to buy control of Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Indonesian life insurance arm. In 2017, it bought AIA’s Japanese life unit, after earlier making acquisitions in Singapore and Vietnam. The company is also awaiting regulatory approval in China to launch a life insurance joint venture.