Italian insurer Generali Group has divested its 49% minority stakes in the Mexican insurance joint ventures (JVs), Seguros Banorte Generali and Pensiones Banorte Generali, to Grupo Financiero Banorte, in a deal valued at $858m (€631m).
The transaction was completed following the approvals from the concerned regulatory authorities.
With sale, the Italy-based underwriter has accomplished more than half of the €4bn disposal target to be completed by 2015 and earned a net capital gain of nearly €500m, boosting its liquidity and capital position by 4% points.
Grupo Financiero Banorte, which already holds a 51% stake in the both JVs and controls the distribution of products, said that the deal will strengthen its operations in the country.
Generali Group CEO Mario Greco said that the company seized Banorte’s offer at the best conditions and withdrew from a minority position, which was no longer consistent with Generali’s current strategy to manage its invested capital actively.
"Latin America remains a very attractive market for Generali; we therefore are interested in developing our business in the region, in particular in the Brazilian market," Greco added.
The sale is part of the company’s plan announced in January 2013 to offload non-core assets and concentrate on its core insurance business in order to transform the company into a global insurance organization.
The disposal of the minority stake in both the companies has contributed a net capital gain of €482m ($637m) as well as €167m ($220.5m), respectively.
Apart from using traditional channels, Seguros operates in the life and P&C segments mainly through bancassurance, while Pensiones trades in the social security related life annuities segment.
Most recently, Generali sold its US life reinsurance business to French financial service company SCOR Group,in a deal worth at $910m.
Generali Group has a team of 80,000 employees globally, and serves 65 million clients in more than 60 nations.