Generali Completes Acquisition of Portugal Insurer Seguradoras Unidas from Apollo
Generali finalized the acquisition in Portugal of the insurer Seguradoras Unidas and the health services company AdvanceCare from Apollo Global Management Inc. for €600 million (US$670.1 million)
Generali paid €510 million (US$570 million) for Seguradoras Unidas and €90 million (US$100.5 million) for AdvanceCare. Generali said it has received the required approvals from all regulatory bodies and competition authorities for the transaction, which was first announced in July 2019. The companies were purchased from Calm Eagle Holdings S.à r.l. and Calm Eagle Parent Holdings II S.à r.l., which are majority owned by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo, the U.S. private equity firm led by Leon Black.
Pedro Carvalho will be the CEO of the insurance entities of the Generali Group in Portugal (Generali Vida, Generali Seguros, Seguradoras Unidas), directly reporting to Jaime Anchústegui, CEO International of Generali. Carvalho joins the group with significant experience in senior management roles in the insurance industry.
With the acquisition of Seguradoras Unidas, Generali becomes the second largest non-life group in Portugal with a market share of 18.7% and the third largest player in the whole market, said the Trieste, Italy-based insurer, when the deal was first announced in July.
Seguradoras Unidas also operates in the life segment and the transaction will allow Generali to leverage on Seguradoras Unidas’s agency network to develop protection products, in line with the three-year Generali 2021 strategy.
Further, with AdvanceCare, Generali said it acquires a strong expertise in third-party health services, a leader in the management of medical service outsourcing with a market share of around 30%. Generali noted that AdvanceCare’s capital light fee business is scalable in other countries and fits well with the Generali 2021 strategy to increase service-based revenues.
The transaction represents an important step in the execution of the Group’s three-year strategy which aims to strengthen Generali’s leadership in Europe, said Generali in its July statement announcing the acquisition.
Generali has been present in Portugal since 1942 and operates through two companies: Generali Vida Companhia de Seguros in the life segment, and Generali Companhia de Seguros, in the non-life segment. In 2018, total gross premiums amounted to €215 million ($240.1 million), which breaks down to €154 million ($172 million) for non-life and €61 million ($68.1 million) in life. Generali also operates in the country in the assistance sector through Europ Assistance Portugal.
Economic conditions in Portugal have improved significantly in recent years, said Generali, quoting the OECD. “GDP has returned to pre-crisis levels, and since 2013 the jobless rate has decreased by 10 percentage points to below 7%,” said the company. “In line with this progress, GDP is expected to increase by about 2% per year in 2019 and 2020.”
Source: Generali