When times get tough, Sun Life may go shopping

By Frank Pingue

TORONTO, May 14 (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is looking at acquisitions in the midst of a tough economic environment that it expects to drag on for at least the rest of 2008, the insurer's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after the company's annual meeting in Toronto, Sun Life CEO Donald Stewart said the credit environment has created acquisition opportunities for his company's insurance and annuity businesses.

"The economic conditions today are suddenly presenting us with opportunities and we see potential for deals that is quite active, particularly compared to recent times," Stewart said. "We believe we've got the position to pursue this ... there are no guarantees here but we are seeing opportunities and we are looking at them."

Stewart said the company, Canada's second-largest life insurer by market value, is in a good position to expand its business in China and India. He said that could help to offset the economic slowdown in North America, which crimped the company's quarterly results, which were released last week.

Stewart would not say how big an acquisition the insurer would consider, saying it was more concerned with fit rather than size, but he did say the larger the deal the less sense it tends to make.

Last week, Sun Life said its first-quarter profit rose 7 percent, but global credit pressures and a robust Canadian dollar took a bigger bite out of its operating earnings than the market had expected.

"We see the credit environment continuing to be challenging and tough for some considerable time to come and we positioned ourselves to best possible values through our risk management and constant ongoing monitoring," Stewart said. "And so we think it's just going to be a tough environment for some time to come, certainly through the balance of the year."

Stewart, who was named chief executive of Sun Life in 1998, said he has no plans to follow the lead of Manulife Financial (MFC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Dominic D'Alessandro, who last week said he would retire in May 2009.

"Ignoring the inherent uncertainties of the future that beset us all, I love my job, I come to work every day ... my plans are to continue to come to work every day." (Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Peter Galloway)