Athora enters Europe’s third largest market in major expansion move
Athora Holding, a life insurance and reinsurance group focused on the European market, has expanded its footprint by entering Europe’s third largest market citing “significant demand”, thanks to its shareholders for funding its latest acquisition.
Athora has forayed into the Italian market by acquiring Amissima Vita, a top 20 insurer by new business sales in Italy with a broad life insurance offering through its bancassurance partners and a network of agents. At year-end 2020, Amissima Vita’s assets stood at €7.2 billion, representing the savings of about 140,000 policyholders, and annual gross written premiums totalled over €800 million.
The move follows other acquisitions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Germany as part of Athora's growth strategy focused on traditional life savings and pension products.
Athora has raised new equity commitments from existing shareholders to finance this transaction. It expects the impact on the group's financial leverage ratio and group capital position to be limited.
The transaction is expected to complete within the first half of 2022, subject to applicable regulatory clearances.
Michele Bareggi (pictured), group chief executive officer of Athora, said: “We have been strategically building Athora’s presence across Europe and are excited about the opportunity Amissima Vita provides as an important entry for the Italian market, where we see significant demand for our products and solutions.
“We intend to play a key role in meeting the demand for life savings products with Amissima Vita’s distributors, and are committed to long-term growth in Italy. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the merits of our leading approach to investments, risk and capital management, which we are excited to bring to this market.”
Bareggi added: “Amissima Vita’s management team, dedicated employees and strong relationships with its distribution partners provide an excellent foundation for growth. We look forward to welcoming Amissima Vita to the Athora family and working with the team to deliver more value to Italian customers in fulfilling their long-term insurance needs.”
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