GROUPAMA is officially the only shareholder in ASIBAN

GROUPAMA has officially signed the transaction to takeover ASIBAN for EUR 350 million from the four previous shareholders - BCR, BRD - Groupe Societe Generale, TRANSILVANIA Bank and CEC Bank. Thus, GROUPAMA becomes the third largest player on the Romanian market, considering the results of all the companies owned by the French group in Romania - BT Asigurari, OTP Garancia and ASIBAN, with a 12.6% share of the market. 

Committed to climb to the 10th place in Europe, the takeover of ASIBAN reflects the strategic targets of GROUPAMA of developing on the international market, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Romania is a very important point in this strategy, considering the population of the country, the rate of growth of the economy as well as the poorly developed level of penetration for insurance", according to Jean-Francois LEMOUX, General Manager of GROUPAMA International.
The total investment of GROUPAMA in Romania to acquire BT Asigurari, ASIBAN and OTP Garancia raises over EUR 500 million in less than one year. 

"Over the next period we will concentrate on making investments to consolidate our companies and to launch the new brand this autumn, which will be followed by providing new and innovative insurance services. We will improve our IT sector and we will invest more in human resources on a long term. By uniting the forces of BT Asigurari, ASIBAN and OTP Garancia, as well as the distribution agreements we have with TRANSILVANIA Bank and OTP Bank, we will be able to crate an ambitious development plan for Romania", Jean-Francois LEMOUX added.
Created by four prime rank Romanian banks in 1996, ASIBAN is now a top player on the insurance market, with a 8% market share.

In 2007 ASIBAN had gross written premiums of EUR 185.8 million, 39% more than the previous year and 7% more than the average on the Romanian market.