French reinsurer Scor is in talks with Aegon to buy latter's US life reinsurance business, Transamerica Re, which writes about $2bn in net premiums annually.
According to the reports, Scor emerged as the lead bidder ahead of the Reinsurance Group of America (RGA).
Earlier, Aegon expressed its interest in selling the Transamerica, to repay the Dutch government and to focus on its core businesses of life insurance, pensions and asset management.
Aegon obtained Transamerica Re as part of the purchase of San Francisco-based Transamerica in 1999.
The Scor may not buy the all of the Transamerica Re, as it looking to add only Transamerica’ mortality related risks and not investment risks.
Off late, Scor has been seeking to expand its life-reinsurance business, which accounted for about 40% of 2010 operating profit.
Last month, Scor agreed to sell the company’s U.S. fixed-annuity unit to free up capital for its core life-reinsurance operations.
Speaking to reporters, Scor CEO Denis Kessler said they don’t know if Transamerica Re satisfies the acquisition criteria.