Romania’s biggest insurer seeks partner or potential buyer

City Insurance, the biggest insurer in Romania by value of gross premiums underwritten, controlled by local investor Dan Odobescu through Swiss-registered Vivendi International, is seeking a partner that would come up with EUR 50 mln to 100 mln worth of new capital.

The company’s owner is ready to give up the majority stake as part of the deal, according to Economica.net.

The insurer confirmed that it hired a consultant in the United Kingdom [for such operations] and detailed on its expansion and digitisation, but it has not elaborated on the negotiations in London. Unofficial sources stated that City Insurance “is in advanced talks with several investment funds in the view of a takeover.”

Notably, the insurer’s representatives confirmed that a EUR 25 mln loan was contracted from a Swiss bank to be used as working capital - namely for speeding up the disbursement of compensations to policyholders. The company’s clients have been complaining about the long delays in having their damage claims settled.

City Insurance’s business mainly focuses on the mandatory car insurance segment (RCA), where it holds a 35% overall market share and 80% market share on the segment of lorries. At the end of December 2019, the portfolio of City Insurance consisted of 3.22 million insurance policies, which covered 171,745 households, 225,892 individuals insured for risk of accidents, and 2,143,705 vehicles, according to company data.

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