French mutual insurer Covéa has finalised a deal to acquire Exor’s reinsurance business PartnerRe in an all-cash deal valued at $9bn.
Exor is the investment vehicle of Italy’s Agnelli family. It purchased Bermuda-based PartnerRe for a total consideration of $6.72bn in cash in 2016.
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PartnerRe serves insurance firms with multi-line reinsurance services.
The reinsurer also offers capital markets products like weather and credit protection to financial, service, and industrial companies.
Including dividends received since 2016, Exor expects to realise an aggregate cash return of $3bn through PartnerRe divestment.
Exor chairman and CEO John Elkann said: “PartnerRe today is a stronger company, with a more complete and efficient business.
“We have now been presented with an outstanding chance for PartnerRe to further strengthen its competitive advantage while providing important new opportunities for its people under Covéa’s ownership.”
The acquisition is part of the Covéa’s strategy to consolidate its diversification and international expansion.
Covéa chairman and CEO Thierry Derez said: “This acquisition project comes at a time when the insurance sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation, with the emergence of new risks and new lifestyles, and increasing new participants entering insurance markets.
“It perfectly fits our growth strategy, our ability to adapt, the necessary complementarity of expertise and the importance of risks mutualization on a global basis. It would consolidate the future of PartnerRe and our mutual Group, serving the interests of our members and clients, as well as of our employees and partners.”
Last month, Covéa cancelled its earlier plan to acquire property and casualty reinsurer SCOR saying that “a transaction with SCOR is no longer part of its strategic options”.
