Eurovita Holding spa (formerly Phlavia Investimenti spa), the holding company of the Italian life insurance group created by Cinven private equity starting in 2016 with the acquisition and integration of Ergo Previdenza, Old Mutual Wealth Italy and Eurovita Assicurazioni (see here a previous post by BeBeez), bought Pramerica Life spa, an Italian life insurance company which was sold by Prudential Financial Inc (see the press release here).
In May 2018 Cinven had presented the advisor Kpmg a binding offer to take over Pramerica Life spa. The other binding offers came from international industrial subjects: an American company, a Spanish company and a consortium of companies (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The auction was won in June 2018 by the US Global Bankers Insurance Group, which was said it was paying 80-85 million euros, but then surprisingly last February the two counterparties blew up the deal and Cinven came back with an offer (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
The group’s ceo, Erik Stattin, since November 2017 during his speech at one of BeBeez’s Caffé, said he was ready for new deals: “There are so many opportunities for growth in Italy. We have acquired three companies that can each oversee a distribution channel in life and on this front each business unit will maintain its identity, producing economies of scale and synergies that can make the business more profitable”, Stattin said stressing that the new regulation also requires an increase in volumes. The Cinven partner following the deal, Eugenio Preve, on the same occasion echoed Stattin, adding that “if there is something interesting to continue the consolidation, you can buy it” (see here the video of the BeBeez Caffé on private equity and insurance).
The Eurovita group, based in Milan, today has about 245 employees and over 470 thousand customers, with about 1.8 billion euros in premiums and 16.4 billion in reserves (at December 31, 2018). The acquisition of Pramerica will allow Eurovita to further strengthen its distribution network, bringing new skills to the group, especially in the segment of life protection policies, at the same time strengthening the group’s ability to create tailor-made solutions for its customers. Following the acquisition of Pramerica, Eurovita will become a group with approximately 2 billion euros in gross premiums (GWP or gross written premiums) and 17.5 billion in gross reserves. The group will also be able to count on a distribution network of over 11 thousand financial consultants, 2,500 bank branches and over 100 agents and brokers. Prudential Financial Inc. will continue to be present in Italy through Pramerica sgr, a successful joint venture in the asset management sector.
The sale of Pramerica Life is part of the group’s repositioning strategy led by chairman and ceo John Strangfeld. In October 2018 the sale of the insurance activities of Pramerica in Poland, sold to the American Unum, was closed. Pramerica Life spa entered the Italian market in 1990 and has been operating in the life business for over 25 years, offering insurance solutions to protect families and businesses. In 2015 it extended its offer against the risks deriving from accidents and illness.
Cinven is one of the main pan-European private equity funds, which invests in sox key sectors: business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrial and technology, media and telecommunications. The fund has just bought US company Jaggaer (leader in the field of software platforms for eProcurement and spend management), sold by Accel-KKR and Italmobiliare, with the latter which for its 9.5% stake has collected 100 million of dollars (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
