The Board of Management of ERGO Group has decided to close discussions on the sale of its German life insurance companies with traditional life insurance portfolios, saying offers weren’t high enough.
The decision follows an in-depth assessment of non-binding offers submitted by potential buyers.
Markus Rieß, Chairman of the Board of Management of ERGO Group AG, said in a statement; “In ERGO’s view, the current value of the portfolios and its potential appreciation is not adequately reflected in the offers submitted. We will therefore continue to manage our traditional life insurance portfolios ourselves.”
Munich Re’s ERGO had been opened up to non-binding bids in mid-November, after which management had said it would decide whether to start negotiations to sell the approximately 6 million insurance policies.
According to Reuters, Ergo and fellow insurers have been struggling to pay guaranteed returns due to record-low interest rates which together with tighter regulatory requirements on capital holding, have caused some re/insurers to begin to offload some of their life insurance risk.
