French reinsurer SCOR has announced the acquisition of Brazil’s family-owned agriculture focused Managing General Agent (MGA), AgroBrasil Administração e Participações Ltda (AgroBrasil).
The acquisition of a majority stake in the firm marks a significant step in the continued development of SCOR’s Specialty Insurance strategy, and provides the reinsurer with access to a growing and profitable market for its P&C reinsurance and specialty operations.
At the same time, SCOR says that the acquisition strengthens its expertise in agriculture, enabling improved knowledge-sharing, better client servicing and more business opportunities across its global P&C platform.
Laurent Rousseau, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SCOR Global P&C and CEO of the Specialty Insurance unit, commented: “Through this acquisition, SCOR is further building its Specialty Insurance franchise and MGA platform. SCOR will also strengthen its expertise in agriculture insurance, a highly complex specialty: being at the forefront of technical risk-knowledge and fostering product innovation for the benefit of our clients around the world is an integral part of our DNA.”
SCOR has been active in the Brazilian agriculture market as a re/insurer for some time, and has now acquired a recognised expert with strong access to growers, backed by a network of expert agronomists and a proprietary digital platform.
For the last 15 years, SCOR has been in a partnership with AgroBrasil, initially as a reinsurer and since 2013, as an insurer via its Brazilian insurer, ESSOR Seguros.
Following the closing of the transaction, the operations of AgroBrasil will remain unchanged, and Laura Neves will continue to serve as CEO of the company, and subject to regulatory approval, will join the ESSOR Board.
Neves commented: “The full backing of AgroBrasil by a global Tier 1 reinsurer will strengthen our unique positioning in the Brazilian market, allow us to broaden our market offering and deepen our infrastructure. Our people have known each other for a very long time, and I am looking forward to joining the SCOR team.”
