European life insurance and reinsurance group Athora Holding, Ltd, announced their financial results for the full year.
In a press release, it states that throughout the year, the company saw continued progress against its strategic objectives.
This includes securing an agreement to acquire Amissima Vita in Italy, a €7.2 billion life insurer, back in September 2021, and Athora Belgium agreeing the acquisition of a €3.3 billion life insurance portfolio from NN Insurance Belgium, back in October 2021.
Further progress for Athora included Athora Netherlands continuing to reposition its investment portfolio to support increased risk adjusted returns and drive higher capital generation.
In addition, the company also announced the sale of Athora Netherlands’ in-house asset manager – ACTIAM, to Cardano Group in October 2021, which was completed in January 2022, allowing the business to focus wholly on its core business lines and leadership in the pensions market.
Over the course of 2021, Athora also achieved an A- (positive) rating from Fitch Insurance Financial Strength Rating.
The rating was supported by strong solvency capital at the company’s operating entity levels, continued deleveraging, and a recognition of Athora’s increased operating scale.
Other performance highlights from Athora included their total IFRS equity increasing to €4.8 billion, as a result of the increase in retained earnings and new equity capital issuance.
In addition, Athora’s financial leverage ratio decreased to 25.5%, as a result of the growth in IFRS equity.
Financial strength highlights from Athora’s results included AM Best upgrading the ratings of both Athora Life Re Ltd, and Athora Ireland plc to A- (Stable), from B++ (Stable).
Additionally, Athora also signed a €500 million unsecured Revolving Credit Facility with a group of leading credit institutions, providing material additional liquidity resources. The facility however has not yet been drawn.
Meanwhile, back in December 2021, Athora completed a capital call securing €630 million of new capital commitments. An amount of €360 million was issued, with €270 million remaining undrawn.
“I am pleased with the progress we made in 2021 to consolidate our unique position in the European insurance market, as we continued to deliver on our business case,” said Group Chief Executive Officer of Athora Michele Bareggi.
“We focused on providing security and attractive returns to our customers during uncertain times, while continuing to meet the expectations of our investors and other stakeholders.
“During the year, we secured €630 million of new equity commitments, bringing total committed equity capital to c.€4.7 billion. This additional capital will be used to support continued growth, investments in our business units, and the overall financial flexibility of the Group. We ended the year with most business units achieving strong increases in solvency capital and a robust group solvency capital position.
“In addition, our leverage ratio is at our medium-term target and we have achieved credit rating upgrades to A-. Athora is extremely well positioned for the next stage of our journey.”
Bareggi continues, “Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on implementing the key elements of our business model, building on the strong results that we have achieved to date. We want to realise our full potential as a leading European insurer, which means maturing our operations and controls, and driving forward our sustainability initiatives, to ensure we increase value to all our stakeholders.
“We will also focus on carefully integrating our latest acquisitions in Italy and Belgium, which are expected to close in 2022. As with prior transactions, we have allocated dedicated resources to manage the integration process so that there is a smooth transition into the Athora Group for both our new customers and employees.”
