Italian insurance leader Generali is to buy Spanish insurer Liberty Seguros for 2.3 billion euros, its biggest acquisition in ten years, it said in a statement on Thursday. . Generali won a tender organized by Liberty Mutual, the American parent company of Liberty Seguros. Insurers Axa, Allianz and Grupo Catalana Occidente were also in the running, according to a financial source. The Italian group “has reached an agreement with Liberty Mutual for the purchase of Liberty Seguros, a Spanish insurance company operating in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Northern Ireland,” the statement said.
Thanks to the acquisition of Liberty Seguros, Generali will be able to “strengthen” its “leading position in Europe” and “stimulate the growth” of its damage insurance segment, commented its CEO, Philippe Donnet. Liberty Seguros is a company mainly focused on property and casualty insurance, which benefits from a growing motor business, with a portfolio of more than 1.2 billion euros in premiums in 2022, and has approximately 1,700 employees and 5,600 intermediaries in its markets. Liberty Seguros has been present in Spain since 2001, in Portugal since 2003 and in Ireland, where its products are marketed under the Liberty Insurance brand, since 2011. The American insurance company Liberty Mutual wanted to streamline its presence outside the United States.
The cash acquisition for 2.3 billion euros includes the “excess capital” of around 500 million euros that Liberty Seguros received for the recent sale of its activities in Brazil. Generali thus becomes “one of the main players in the Spanish insurance market following this transaction which strengthens the group’s position in car and home insurance”, comments the group.
Generali thus becomes “one of the main players in the Spanish insurance market” following “this transaction which strengthens the group’s position in car and home insurance”, assures the group. On the lookout for acquisitions in the United States, Generali had considered in October 2022 to submit a takeover offer for 100% of the financial services giant Guggenheim Partners, valued up to 4 billion dollars, before changing its mind. After having acquired in 2021 for 1.2 billion euros the Italian insurer Cattolica, Generali had bought in February 2022 for 435 million euros the group La Médicale to strengthen itself in France, one of its main markets.
After a long battle, CEO Philippe Donnet was reappointed in April 2022 for a third term thanks to the votes of 55.9% of the capital represented at a general meeting of shareholders. Dissident shareholders, led by construction magnate Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone, unsuccessfully proposed a candidate of their choice. They had argued that Generali had lost ground to Allianz, Axa or Zurich Insurance, in terms of market capitalization and mergers and acquisitions. Despite a tense macroeconomic and geopolitical context, Generali aligned a net profit of 2.9 billion euros in 2022, which led it to sharply increase its dividends.
