APAX Partners to buy GNB Vida

The European Commission has given the green light for the sale of the Portuguese insurance company GNB – Companhia de Seguros (GNB Vida) to the British company APAX Partners LLP.

The news was released by the EC which states that the deal has been approved on the back of the EU’s Merger Regulation which did not raise “competition concerns” since there are “no horizontal or vertical links” between the insurance company owned by Novo Banco and APAX.
APAX, which is UK based and operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai, is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis, ranked as the 14th largest private equity firm worldwide.
APAX invests exclusively in certain business sectors including: telecoms, technology, retail, consumer products, healthcare and financial and business services.
Novo Banco, led by António Ramalho, announced in September last year that the sale would involve €190 million. It retains a 20-year product distribution right.
Despite getting the go-ahead from the European Commission, the operation will still need the approval of the Portuguese authorities.
In addition to the sale of the insurer, Novo Banco signed a contract with GNB Vida to sell its products for the next 20 years.
“With the entry of this new partnership, we have assured an increase in insurance capacity and have taken a decisive step in redesigning product offer for our clients,” said António Ramalho at the end of 2018.