French insurance company AXA has entered into a deal to sell its operations in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia to UNIQA Insurance Group for €1bn ($1.09bn).
The divestment is part of the French insurer’s wider restructuring initiative to exit markets where it lacks scale.
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Under the terms of deal, AXA will sell 100% of its life & savings, property & casualty and pension businesses in Central and Eastern Europe to the Austrian insurer UNIQA.
AXA CEO Thomas Buberl said: “This transaction marks another step in the simplification of AXA’s footprint, we are convinced that AXA’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe will benefit from UNIQA’s strong presence and local expertise in the region to create new growth opportunities with a continued focus on delivering enhanced customer value propositions.”
AXA Poland employs 1,575 people. It provides a range of life and savings (L&S), property and casualty (P&C), pension, and asset management products and solutions to nearly 3.2 million customers.
AXA Czech Republic and Slovakia offers a product suite of L&S, P&C and Pension solutions to approximately 1.6 million retail customers through its 527 staff.
HSBC advised UNIQA on this transaction.
UNIQA, currently, has a network in 15 markets. It offers a range of insurance solutions to 6.8 million private and corporate customers.
Subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to be completed by fourth quarter of this year.
In October last year, AXA agreed to divest its Belgian banking business to Crelan Bank in a cash and stock deal worth €620m.
