(Bloomberg) – Zurich Insurance Group AG, Switzerland's largest insurer, agreed to acquire Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.'s life-insurance businesses for A$2.85 billion ($2.2 billion).
The deal for OnePath Life will be earnings-accretive from the beginning and increase the firm's return on equity, Zurich Insurance said in a statement. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of next year and will make the firm the largest retail life insurer in Australia with a market share of about 19%.
Zurich Insurance has been restructuring under Italian Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco who has been selling assets, cutting jobs and lowering the insurer's risk profile after losses in its North American auto business prompted the company to abandon a high-profile takeover bid for RSA Insurance Group Plc. The Zurich-based firm bought Australian travel insurer Cover-More Group Ltd. earlier this year.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
