Cinven is in talks with JC Flowers to buy control of Italy’s life insurance company Eurovita, MF Milano Finanza writes today adding that the US private equity firm owning an 80% stake since late 2013 (see here a previous post by BeBeez), might decide to realize its investment soon thanks to quite a repentine growth in the company’s business.
Actually Eurovita’s life premiums have been doubling from 600 million euros in 2014 while JC Flowers cashed in good dividends (25 millions in two years), repaying more than half its 47 million euros invested on the basis of a 60 million euros enterprise value. Today the company might be valued about three times that value.
Cinven is quite interested in growing in the Italian insurance sector after having bough Ergo‘s Italian insurance companies and Old Mutual Wealth Italy and having brought them under a unique holding, Phlavia Investimenti, giving birth to an insurance pole reaching 2 billion euros in insurance premiums and 12 billions in reserves (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Cinven also run in the auction for Italian activities of Austrian insurance company Uniqa in the last few months, but the auction was then won by Italy’s insurance group Reale Mutua late in 2016 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Thanks to Eurovita, Phlavia’s insurance premiums would grow to about 3 billion euros.
Cinven hired wellknown managers for Phlavia Investimenti: Davide Croff (former top banker) as chairman and Erik Stattin (previously in Oliver Wyman and Intesa Vita) as ceo of the company.
