Athora Holding Ltd. has announced an agreement with Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. to acquire a complete stake in its Belgian subsidiary, Generali Belgium S.A., for a cash consideration of approximately €540 million (US $667mn).
Primarily focused on the life segment, Generali Belgium is the 11th largest insurer in Belgium and serves around 420,000 customers through a team of 430 members and a network of over 1,000 brokers.
In 2017, Generali Belgium recorded total gross written premiums of over €640 million and total assets of €5.3 billion.
Michele Bareggi, Group Managing Partner at Athora, said: “Since our successful capital raise in April 2017, we have been rapidly expanding our presence in Europe.
“In addition to launching our business with the acquisitions of Delta Lloyd Lebensversicherung in 2015 and Aegon Ireland earlier this month, this transaction is another major step toward our goal of becoming the premier European insurance consolidator and life reinsurance partner.
“Belgium is a target market for Athora, where we plan to deploy substantial capital over the next few years, and Generali Belgium is a perfect fit for our strategy and growth plans in the country.”
Last year, Athora raised approximately €2.2 billion from global institutional investors through a private placement of common equity securities, which was intended to support its existing business lines and reinsurance transactions.
The acquisition of Generali Belgium will offer Athora a strong platform for further consolidation in Belgium while it focuses on developing the company’s retail life and non-life business, and aggregating its traditional life books.
The transaction is also expected to benefit Generali, who maintained that the sale would optimize the Group’s geographical footprint and improve its operational efficiency and capital allocation, adding 2.6% to its Regulatory Solvency II ratio and generating a capital gain of €150 million.
Frédéric de Courtois, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Global Business Lines & International at Generali, commented: “This deal underlines our continuing efforts to optimize the Group’s international reach across the world.
“After having announced the sale of our operations in Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, the Netherlands and Ireland, this transaction represents yet another important step ahead in our strategy.
“The total value of the deals concluded and those already announced, still subject to regulatory approvals, is over €1.1 billion exceeding our initial target of €1 billion. We will continue to implement this on-going initiative with discipline over the coming months.”
The Generali Group will retain a presence in Belgium following the transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2018, providing re/insurance solutions through its Global Business Lines and Europ Assistance operations.
