Generali buys Tranquilidade for €600 million

The Italian insurance giant Generali is expected to complete the acquisition of Portuguese insurer Tranquilidade for between €540 million and €600 million by next week.
Tranquilidade, which used to belong to the Banco Espírito Santo Group is the second largest insurance company in Portugal.
There had been five interested parties in the running including the Spanish Catalana Occidente but Generali will, according to Reuters, sign the purchase contract next week. Other competitors were Allianz and Ageas.
A US fund managed by Apollo Global Management, one of the main equity and asset managers in the world, granted Generali exclusive purchase rights for the sale of Seguradoras Unidas, which includes Tranquilidade.
The Seguradoras Unidas which comprises Tranquilidade, Açoreana (ex-Banif) and Logo achieved profits of €50.6 million in 2018.
The net profit in 2018 reflected an “improvement in commercial performance and margins and levels of efficiency as well as results,” states the group which belongs to Apollo.
Profits improved significantly with the profit of €50.6 million for 2018 contrasting starkly with the €41.7 million in losses from 2017.
Seguradoras Unidas in 2018 achieved a total volume in premiums worth €800 million, which shows growth of 9.6% compared to 2017. From the total, €746 million came from non-life, where the non-life claims ratio fell to 69.7%, 9.5 percentage points less than 2017.
In the life segment, premiums rose by around €54 million.