The largest transaction on the Romanian insurance market
The French financial group GROUPAMA has acquired the insurance company ASIBAN, for the amount of EUR 350 million. Through the contract signed on April 9th, GROUPAMA becomes the sole owner of the Romanian insurer, while the four banks (BCC, BRD, CEC and Banca TRANSILVANIA) giving up their 25% shares each.
Created in 1996, ASIBAN is one of the top Romanian life and non-life insurance companies (the third largest composite insurer in 2007 with an 8% market share, according to Insurance PROFILE). In addition to its in-house selling capabilities, ASIBAN has a diversified nationwide distribution platform consisting mainly of brokerage networks and agents working on a self-employed basis. In 2007, ASIBAN's premium amounted to EUR 185.8 million, which is 39% up from previous year and almost 7 points percentage higher than the Romanian market growth.
For GROUPAMA, this acquisition reflects its strategic commitment to expand its international operations becoming a benchmark international player, especially in the markets of Central Europe. Romania is one of the major axes of this strategy, implemented through the acquisitions of BT Asigurari in December 2007 and OTP Garancia Asigurari announced last February, the latter being subject to regulatory approval.
"The Romanian market is extremely important to us, as a part of our development strategy for Eastern & Central Europe, if we take into account the country population, the rapidity of the economic growth and the extremely low level of current industry development", Jean-Francois LEMOUX, General Manager of GROUPAMA International has stated.
"I want to thank, on behalf of ASIBAN team, to our former shareholders, for their financial and managerial support, granted for the development of the company. We are also aware that we face a new challenge", Dumitru Mugurel CERACEANU, President and General Manager of ASIBAN, has explained.
According to the contract signed yesterday in Bucharest, CEC and BRD will continue, on short term, the collaboration on the bancassurance side with ASIBAN.
Although the future strategy for the three companies that GROUPAMA holds in Romania has not been established, Jean-Francois LEMOUX has stated that a rebranding campaign will start at the beginning of 2009.
"In a first stage, we will implement a common management for all our operations in Romania", the French official mentioned.
"We intend to operate in Romania under a single brand - GROUPAMA, this way we do not exclude a possible merger or a portfolio transfer. But, for the moment, all these are just projects", Jean-Francois LEMOUX explained.
The transaction that allows GROUPAMA to take over ASIBAN is, without any doubt, the largest that ever took place on the Romanian insurance market, surpassing by distance the price paid by VIENNA Insurance for ASIROM or OMNIASIG.
Overall, the acquisition of ASIBAN, BT Asigurari and the Romanian division of OTP Garancia, along with the capital increases, raise the investment made by GROUPAMA on the Romanian market at over EUR 500 million, in less than a year.
"Our intensive acquisition strategy for the Romanian market allowed us, in a relatively short period of time, to occupy the third position on the Romanian insurance market", the General Manager of GROUPAMA International mentioned.
At the moment, by cumulating the market share of the earlier mentioned companies, GROUPAMA posses 12.57% of the Romanian market (8.5%-ASIBAN, 3.76%-BT Asigurari and 0.31%-OTP Garancia).
GROUPAMA has a clear strategic focus and ambition - to achieve profitable growth and to create value, in order to rank among the top ten European insurers.
In France, the Group occupies the third position among the largest profile companies, its main rivals being the giant AXA and CNP, and also has subsidiaries in China, Greece, Italy, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Hungary and Vietnam.
Author: Mihaela CIRCU
on 10.04.2008
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