The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of French insurance group Covéa, Thierry Derez, has said that the firm is eager to diversify into the reinsurance industry through acquisitions, reports Reuters.
In January 2019, Covéa decided to abandon plans to pursue an acquisition of reinsurer SCOR after the firm rejected an offer of €8.2 billion. The offer, which SCOR rejected on the grounds that it was “fundamentally incompatible” with its strategy, saw Covéa look to increase its 8.2% stake in the reinsurer.
Following the rejection, the situation turned somewhat ugly, and certain SCOR investors threatened to hold SCOR’s management legally liable for gross mismanagement, ultimately resulting in the resignation of Derez from the SCOR Board of Director’s in November, 2018.
Now, according to Reuters, the Covéa CEO said today that the firm is still looking to diversify into the reinsurance industry through the acquisition of companies in the sector.
“Developing such an activity like that takes decades, so external growth is the more plausible,” said Derez.
Reuters also reports that the CEO declined to comment on whether Covéa would divest from SCOR should it acquire a rival reinsurance company.
