Four Bids Received for Privatization Advisor of Croatia osiguranje

The Ministry of Finance has received four bids for the advisor for the privatization and recapitalization of Croatia osiguranje.

These include KPMG Croatia, which submitted a bid with three partners, Lazard Freres from Paris along with Ernst&Young Paris, the French bank BNP Paribas with partner Interkapital securities from Zagreb, and Deloitte from Zagreb with nine partners. The government initiated the process of selecting an advisor for the privatization and recapitalization of Croatia osiguranje at a meeting in mid-July, aiming to sell approximately 50 percent of the ownership stake in this insurance company. The Ministry of Finance announced the tender for advisory services for the privatization and recapitalization of Croatia osiguranje on September 19, which was open until today at 12:00 PM.

KPMG Croatia (with partners KPMG Budapest, KPMG Milan, and Wolf Theiss) is seeking 23.55 million kuna excluding VAT, or 29.4 million kuna including VAT, for advisory services.

The bid price from Lazard Freres and its partner is 28.5 million kuna excluding VAT, or 29.02 million kuna including VAT.

For advisory services, BNP Paribas and its partner are asking for 19.19 million kuna excluding VAT, or 20.8 million kuna including VAT, while the bid price from Deloitte and its nine partners is 18.18 million kuna excluding VAT, i.e., 22.7 million kuna including VAT.

The Ministry of Finance’s commission will, after reviewing and evaluating the received bids, in accordance with the provisions of the tender documentation and the applicable Public Procurement Act, make a decision on selection or a decision on annulment no later than 30 days from the date of the public opening of bids.

The selection criterion that will be applied in this process is the economically most favorable bid, and in addition to the bid price, the specific experience of the bidders, the adequacy of the privatization plan and methodology, as well as the qualifications and competence of the proposed personnel for working on this project will also be evaluated.

Croatia osiguranje today also announced its business results. In the first nine months of 2012, gross profit increased by 49.7 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 101.4 million kuna, while the consolidated net profit of the Croatia osiguranje Group, which consists of 24 subsidiaries, amounts to 109.5 million kuna, an increase of 32.7 percent compared to the previous year, as announced today by the company.

In the first nine months of 2012, Croatia osiguranje achieved a total written premium of 2.19 billion kuna. The decline in premiums was 4 percent compared to the same period last year, primarily caused by the poor economic situation and the disappearance of certain large business entities. In life insurance, the premium fell by 1.2 percent, while in non-life insurance, it decreased by 4.3 percent.
The total revenues of the largest Croatian insurer recorded a decline of 0.9 percent to 2.04 billion kuna, and as part of the planned business strategy of rationalization and savings, the reduction of expenses continued, which amounted to 1.94 billion kuna, a decrease of 2.6 percent or 51.6 million kuna compared to the same period last year.
Croatia osiguranje increased its capital and reserves by 7.3 percent or 117.4 million kuna by the end of September this year compared to the same period last year, and the increase in capital to 1.72 billion kuna is a result, among other things, of achieving higher profits.