Liberty Mutual Insurance has acquired Russian insurance firm KIT Finance from KIT Finance Holding marking its foray into Russia's $21bn property and casualty insurance market
Liberty Mutual Insurance president and chief executive officer David Long said that the firm expects that KIT Finance Insurance provides an attractive platform from which to invest in the rapidly growing Russian non-life insurance market.
"It’s a dynamic company with a driven management team as indicated by annual growth of twenty-seven percent," Long added.
Although, the UK insurance major has not disclosed the amount of the deal but said that under the acquisition agreement, it will repay a loan of ‘Russian Railways’ to KIT Finance Investment Bank.
The ultimate owners of KIT are JSC "Russian Railways" and NPF "Blagosostoyanie", which is the pension fund company of Russian Railways.
KIT Finance Insurance mainly engaged in automobile and property insurance, and during 2011, the insurer had written nearly $50m in gross premium, with approximately 63% coming from automobile insurance.
As of 31 December 2011, Liberty Mutual Insurance registered a net written premium of $31.2bn, of which $8.2bn, or 26%, came from its International operations.
After integration, Liberty Mutual’s International local business operations, will be in better position to manage its businesses running in three regions such as Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Poland, Ireland and now Russia; Latin America, including Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile; and, Asia, including Thailand, Singapore, China (including Hong Kong) and Vietnam.
Liberty Mutual Insurance owned $117.1bn in consolidated assets, $99.3bn in consolidated liabilities, and $34.7bn in annual consolidated revenue, as on 31 December 2011.