19th Mar 2025 14:11
(Alliance News) - Allianz SE and BlackRock Inc on Wednesday said they were part of a consortium that has agreed to purchase European life insurance consolidator Viridium Holding AG.
The Munich-based financial services company and the New York City-based investor said have partnered with Japanese insurer T&D Holdings Inc on the EUR3.5 billion deal, under which T&D will acquire the largest share.
The group has purchased the stake from London-based private equity firm Cinven Ltd, which will exit as majority stakeholder after more than a decade.
Under the agreement, Viridium will continue to operate as an independent, stand-alone platform. The company has 3.4 million current policyholders.
Existing investors that will remain as stake holders are Hannover, Germany-based reinsurer Hannover Re and Generali Financial Holdings, a unit of Trieste, Italy-based insurer Assicurazioni Generali Spa.
"This partnership between leading financial institutions and Viridium will contribute to the development of the European closed-life market and will further provide the European insurance industry with optionality for the management of closed-life books," Allianz commented.
"The consortium’s leading asset management capabilities across a wide spectrum of asset classes, including private market strategies, will also support Viridium’s ability to generate attractive returns for its policyholders while maintaining a sound financial position. Coupled with the consortium’s deep insurance expertise and Viridium’s highly efficient scalable state-of-the-art IT platform, Viridium will be uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities arising from a fragmented European life insurance market."
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025.
On Wednesday afternoon, Allianz shares traded down 0.7% at EUR355.80 in Frankfurt; Hannover shares were 1.4% lower at EUR271.10; Assicurazioni Generali traded 0.7% lower at EUR32.63 in Milan.
BlackRock traded 0.3% higher at EUR961.01 in New York
By Aidan Lane, Alliance News reporter
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