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(Bloomberg) -- A consortium including Allianz SE and BlackRock Inc. agreed to acquire Viridium Group in a deal that values the German life insurance consolidator at about €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) including debt.
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Japan’s T&D Holdings Inc. is part of the buying group, taking the largest share, according to a statement on Wednesday. Viridium’s current private equity owner Cinven will fully exit, while Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA and Hannover RE will remain as investors. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.
Viridium’s current management will continue to lead the firm, which operates as a standalone platform. With the new owners, the insurer will seek its next “significant phase of growth” in Germany and continental Europe, Tilo Dresig, chief executive officer of Viridium, said in an interview.
The Wednesday announcement marked the end of one of Germany’s most competitive deals this year, with global insurance companies and asset managers among the final bidders for Viridium. The consortium backed by BlackRock, Allianz and T&D Holdings was one of the suitors in the final stage, Bloomberg News reported in February.
“This transaction is strategically constructive for the European insurance industry as it should recover some credibility of life portfolio run-off buyers,” Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst William Hawkins wrote in a note.
Based near Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, Viridium is one of the largest asset managers and consolidators of the so-called back books, or portfolios of legacy insurance policies which it manages until maturity. The firm was founded by Cinven and Hannover as Heidelberger Leben Group in 2014 and was renamed two years later. The German company has 3.4 million policies with €67 billion of assets under management and annual net income of €325 million in 2023.
Cinven was working with advisers Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and boutique firm Fenchurch Advisory on the potential sale of Viridium, Bloomberg News reported in July.
--With assistance from Steven Arons and Jenny Surane.
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