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Allianz SE and BlackRock Inc on Wednesday said they were part of a consortium that has agreed to purchase European life insurance consolidator Viridium Holding AG. The Munich-based financial services company and the New York City-based investor said have partnered with Japanese insurer T&D Holdings Inc on the €3.5 billion deal, under which T&D will acquire the largest share. The group has purchased the stake from London-based private equity firm Cinven Ltd, which will exit as majority stakeholder after more than a decade. Under the agreement, Viridium will continue to operate as an independent, stand-alone platform. The company has 3.4 million current policyholders. Existing investors that will remain as stake holders are Hannover, Germany-based reinsurer Hannover Re and Generali Financial Holdings, a unit of Trieste, Italy-based insurer Assicurazioni Generali Spa. ‘This partnership between leading financial institutions and Viridium will contribute to the development of the European closed-life market and will further provide the European insurance industry with optionality for the management of closed-life books,’ Allianz commented. ‘The consortium‘s leading asset management capabilities across a wide spectrum of asset classes, including private market strategies, will also support Viridium’s ability to generate attractive returns for its policyholders while maintaining a sound financial position. Coupled with the consortium‘s deep insurance expertise and Viridium’s highly efficient scalable state-of-the-art IT platform, Viridium will be uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities arising from a fragmented European life insurance market.’ The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025. On Wednesday afternoon, Allianz shares traded down 0.7% at €355.80 in Frankfurt; Hannover shares were 1.4% lower at €271.10; Assicurazioni Generali traded 0.7% lower at €32.63 in Milan. BlackRock traded 0.3% higher at €961.01 in New York Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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