UE will give its verdict for ERSTE - VIG deal by 3rd of June
The deal through which ERSTE Bank sold its Central and Eastern European
insurance operations to VIENNA Insurance Group (VIG) will have a verdict
from the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission
by 3rd of June, according to Forbes citing Thompson Financial.
According the European legislation, this transaction can not be completed
without having the approval from the European anti-trust authorities. The
European Union is analyzing every M&A deal that could lead to economic
concentrations and to a dominating position on a particular market.
At the end of March ERSTE announced selling its CEE insurance operations
(including its Romanian subsidiaries BCR Asigurari and BCR Life) to VIG
for EUR 1.44 billion, meaning 1.2 EUR for every euro in companies' turnover.
The deal also includes the sale of all the life and non-life insurance companies
belonging to BCR (Romanian Commercial Bank). Thus VIG will buy main stakes
in BCR Asigurari and BCR Life from BCR. Total gross written premiums of
BCR Life amounted to EUR 24.8 million, while earnings from non-life underwriting
of BCR Asigurari went up to EUR 155.1 million.
Afterwards, VIG announced it will sell local insurance company UNITA in
order to avoid eventual problems with the Competition Council.
Published on 25.04.2008
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