Groupama in exclusive talks to take over Asiban

French group Groupama has entered into exclusive negotiations with BCR, BRD-SocGen, CEC and Banca Transilvania to take over insurance company Asiban, according to a statement made yesterday by Rothschild, the bank’s consultant in the sale process.
Groupama won the tender for the acquisition of the insurer, in which four more important financial groups had participated: AXA (France), Eureko (Netherlands), Aegon (Netherlands) and Generali (Italy). The French came up with the best offer – 350 million euros, sources on the market say. The same sources say the lowest bid for Asiban was 310 million euros.
Groupama and the banks have already reached an agreement on the main terms of the deal. “Closing the contract of this deal entails first securing all the permits required under law. A follow-up statement on this issue will be made once the contract has been signed,” Rothschild said in a release.
The announcement made yesterday by the investment bank confirms the information published in yesterday’s issue of ZIARUL FINANCIAR, which reported Groupama had won the tender for Asiban.
The four banks, each of which owns 25% in Asiban, were also assisted in the sale by Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii law firm and Concept Business Consult. Groupama’s consultants are Raiffeisen Investment and Gide Loyrette Nouel law firm.
As a result of the deal, Groupama will end up owning three insurance companies on the Romanian market. In December 2007, the French completed the takeover of BT Asigurari, a top 10 company, for which they paid 100 million euros.
Early this year, the French announced the acquisition of Hungarian-based OTP’s insurance unit, which holds OTP Garancia Asigurari in Romania, a smaller player.
Asiban, established in 1996, is the third-largest insurance company on the domestic market, with a business worth around 186 million euros in 2007 and a market share of 8.6%.
“To Groupama, this deal reflects its strategic commitment to develop its international operations, this way becoming a major international player, especially on the markets of Central Europe. Romania is a major goal in this strategy, already materialised in the acquisition of BT Asigurari and OTP Garancia Asigurari insurance companies, with the last of them to be finalised as soon as all the permits required by the law have been secured,” the same release shows.
The takeover of Asiban will enable Groupama to become the third leading player in the insurance industry, with 13% market share after Vienna Insurance Group (Austria), which accounts for 37% of the market and Allianz (Germany), which accounts for around 17%.