The largest Italian insurer, Generali, has reached an agreement to sell its Belgian business to Athora Holding, based in the Bermuda Islands, for €540 million as part of its planned reduction of global operations and strengthening of its capital base.
Last year, Generali Belgium, primarily focused on life insurance, generated only €22 million out of a total of €2.11 billion in net profit for the group.
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The transaction will generate a capital gain of approximately €150 million for Generali, and its completion is expected in the second half of the year.
The agreement with Athora will increase Generali’s solvency ratio by 2.6 percentage points, the company states.
The third-largest insurer in Europe operates in about 60 countries and aims to sell businesses in around ten countries.
They have already announced the sale of operations in Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, the Netherlands, and Ireland.
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“The total value of completed and already announced transactions… is slightly over €1.1 billion and exceeds our initial target of €1 billion,” said Frederic de Courtois, head of Generali’s Global Business Lines & International.
The group is also considering options for its German life insurance portfolio valued at €40 billion.
