Four companies have expressed interest in taking over the existing insurance contracts of Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co., which collapsed last month, industry sources said Friday.
Three of the four are foreign firms, the sources said.
The four firms will be briefed shortly on Daiichi Mutual's assets and other financial data after concluding a contract with Daiichi Mutual's receivers not to disclose any such data, the sources said.
The receivers, including the Marine & Fire Insurance Association of Japan, are currently assessing Daiichi Mutual's existing assets and capital deficit.
They are expected to present details of their findings in mid-June to companies interested in a takeover.
More companies may express interest in a takeover, but the receivers plan to select one firm in August, the sources said.
The receivers hope to find a takeover entity because Daiichi Mutual's nonlife insurance policies are short-term contracts of up to three years and many policyholders are hurrying to cancel them, the sources said.
Daiichi Mutual specializes in fire and casualty insurance policies. The low interest rates of the past few years and bad decisions in investment management have caused the company losses, resulting in the first postwar collapse of a nonlife insurance company.
The Financial Supervisory Agency, which ordered Daiichi Mutual on May 1 to suspend some of its operations, estimates the company had a capital deficit of 42.2 billion yen at the end of March.