Private equity firm Cinven has agreed to acquire German insurer Ergo Group’s subsidiary Ergo Italia, in a bid to expand insurance operations in the Italian market.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Based in Milan, Ergo Italia provides life and non-life insurance products in Italy, through its life firm Ergo Previdenza and non-life firm Ergo Assicurazioni.
Through a network of around 160 agencies and 2,000 distributors, the insurance group offers its savings and personal line products to the customers across the country.
Ergo Previdenza managed around 600,000 life policies with €5.1bn of gross reserves, while Ergo Assicurazioni handles about 350,000 non-life policies €195m of gross reserves.
According to Cinven, the Italian life insurance market is the fourth largest in Europe with around €530bn of gross reserves.
Cinven partner Caspar Berendsen said: "We see enormous potential for Ergo Italia given the opportunity for the Group to lead the Italian insurance market’s consolidation.
"We have a vision for Ergo Italia to become a market leader in Italy by acquiring scale, products and access to customers."
Cinven principal Eugenio Preve said: "This investment is the result of Cinven’s ongoing focus on the Italian market and will allow us to benefit from the experience accumulated in other insurance investments in Europe by pursuing further add-on acquisitions in the coming years."
The completion of the deal is subject to approval by IVASS, the authority responsible for regulating the Italian insurance market.
Image: Ergo Italia offers life and non-life insurance products in Italy. Photo: courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.