Argo Group Agrees to Sell Its Italian Business
Argo Group International Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based underwriter of specialty insurance products, announced an agreement to sell its Italian operations, ArgoGlobal Assicurazioni S.p.A (AGA) to Perfuturo Capital AG, a Swiss holding company.
Perfuturo is fully owned by Philantra Holding AG – a green, technology and renewable energy specialist.
Closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to occur in early 2021. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“We are confident that Perfuturo’s expertise and knowledge of the European market will allow AGA to thrive,” said Matt Harris, Argo Group head of international operations. “This transaction aligns with our strategy to simplify the business and streamline operations.
“Argo Group will continue to focus on specialty insurance lines of business that we expect will result in profitable growth and improved shareholder value,” Harris said.
“Perfuturo is excited to be investing in AGA and bringing on board talented professionals with unparalleled insurance market expertise and knowledge of the Italian market,” said Perfuturo’s Chief Executive Officer Stephan Kochem. “With the financial strength and European experience of our group, we will pursue our ambition of building a world-class insurance business in Italy.”
Navios Holdings Sells Its Ship Management, Inks Five-Year Services Deal
Greek shipping firm Navios Maritime Holdings has sold its ship management division and certain general partnership interests to N Shipmanagement Acquisition Corp. and related entities, affiliated with the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Angeliki Frangou.
The company received aggregate consideration of USD 20 million and new five-year service agreements under which NSAC will provide technical and commercial management services at fixed rates and administrative services, reimbursed at allocable cost.
As a result of the transaction Navios Maritime Holdings is a holding company owning dry bulk vessels and various investments in entities owning maritime and infrastructure assets, while NSAC owns all entities providing ship management services.
The company said it would pay a fixed rate of USD 3,700 per day per vessel, which will cover all technical and commercial management services and operating costs, other than dry-docking and special surveys, adding that the rate would be fixed for a two-year period and is set to increase thereafter by 3% annually.
Additionally, NSAC will own the general partner interests in Navios Maritime Containers and Navios Maritime Partners.
Furthermore, Navios Maritime Holdings simultaneously entered into a secured loan agreement with NSAC whereby the company agreed to repay NSAC USD 125 million over a five-year period.
In general, the amount owed reflects the excess of the liabilities of the ship management business, other than liabilities the assumption of which forms part of the consideration for the Transaction over, and the short term assets of the ship management business.
Of the amount owed, USD 47 million will be repayable during the first 12 months in equal quarterly installments, with the remaining principal amount repayable in equal quarterly installments over the following 48 months.
Navios Maritime Holdings said that the closing of the transaction occurred with the execution of the definitive transaction agreements.
Source: worldmaritimenews
National Bank of Greece sells its second unsecured non-performing loan portfolio (Project Mirror) to CarVal Investors
National Bank of Greece (“NBG”) announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement with CarVal Investors (“Investor”), for the disposal of a portfolio of unsecured non-performing portfolio of credit cards, consumer loans, small business loans (“SBL”) and small & medium enterprises loans (“SME”) with total principal amount of c. €1.2 billion (Project Mirror).
The transaction is being implemented in the context of NBG’s NPE Strategy and Operational Targets, as submitted to the Single Supervisory Mechanism (“SSM”).
The servicing of the portfolio will be appointed, by the Investor, to QQuant Master Servicer which has been licensed and is regulated by the Bank of Greece under Law 4354/2015.
The consideration of the transaction amounts to more than 9% of the principal portfolio amount and is capital accretive to NBG (based on Q1 2019 CET 1 ratio).
Alantra is acting as financial advisor while Karatzas & Partners as external legal counsel to NBG.
Allianz sells stake in Spanish joint venture Allianz Popular to Banco Santander for €936.5m
German insurer Allianz has agreed to sell its 60 percent stake in joint venture Allianz Popular SL to Banco Santander for €936.5 million, and terminate its exclusive non-life insurance distribution agreement with the Spanish bank.
Allianz and Banco Popular entered into an exclusive long-term bancassurance alliance in 2011. It covered life insurance, pensions, and asset management through a joint venture Allianz Popular SL, as well as the distribution of non-life insurance products in Spain.
Banco Santander acquired Banco Popular in 2017 and the two banks were subsequently merged in 2018.
Following the resolution of the Allianz Popular bancassurance alliance, Allianz will continue to operate in both non-life and life insurance markets through Allianz Compañia de Seguros y Reaseguros, SA and Fénix Directo Compañia de Seguros y Reaseguros, SA, generating gross written premiums of €3.3 billion in 2018. Allianz Popular SL had gross written premiums of €0.3 billion and assets under management of €12.5 billion in 2018.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.
Source: intelligentinsurer
Munich Re’s ERGO sells three insurance subsidiaries to Generali in consolidation strategy
Munich Re’s primary insurance unit ERGO Group is selling its life, non-life and composite portfolios in Hungary and Slovakia to Italian insurer Generali as part of its international business optimisation strategy.Under the agreement, Generali Group will acquire the entire client portfolios of the three entities in Hungary and Slovakia from ERGO International AG, subject to certain regulatory and anti-trust approvals. Premium income across all three ERGO entities totalled €20.6 million (GWP) in 2017.ERGO noted that the change of ownership will have no effect on the obligations towards the current clients.
Earlier in Feb. 2019, ERGO sold its Russian non-life business to Moscow-based P&C insurer RESO-Garantia.“The agreement clearly shows, that we consequently stick to our core strategy consolidating our international business alongside defined minimum requirements,” said Alexander Ankel, chief operating officer of ERGO International AG. “We are headed in the right direction which gets us into an excellent starting position to give new and well-aimed impetus for sustainable growth in an international business context.”Austria, CEE & Russia regional officer and CEO of Generali CEE Holding Luciano Cirinà stated: “The projected acquisition of Life, Non-Life and Composite portfolios in Hungary and Slovakia is another step forward to our successful journey of growth and investment into Central and Eastern Europe area and fully aligned with our Group´s strategy to further reinforce our leading position in Europe, in particular in the CEE region.”It will enable us to utilise cross-selling opportunities through the customer base as well as to reach a broader base of clients. We are convinced that every client of ERGO will benefit from our high-level expertise and extensive offer of products and services.”
Diana Shipping Sells Panamax Duo
Greece-based Diana Shipping has agreed to sell the 2001-built Panamax dry bulk vessels Danae and Dione.
The two vessels were sold for USD 7.2 million each, according to the company.
“The sale of the vessels was approved by disinterested directors of the company and were sold at a price equal to the higher of two independent broker valuations,” Diana Shipping said.
The 75,106 dwt Danae is expected to be delivered to unidentified buyers by June 28, 2019. The 75,172 dwt Dione is to be delivered to its new owners by April 15, 2019.
Diana Shipping further disclosed that it has entered into a time charter contract with Dutch Glencore Agriculture for the 2014-built dry bulk vessel Crystalia and the 2013-built Maera.
The 77,525 dwt Ice Class Panamax Crystalia will be chartered at a rate of USD 10,500 per day for a period of fourteen to seventeen months. The charter is expected to start on February 23, 2019.
The 75,403 dwt Maera will operate for the same time period at a gross rate of USD 7,000 per day for the first forty-five days of the charter period and USD 9,450 per day for the balance period of the time charter. The vessel started operations with Glencore on February 10, 2019.
Diana Shipping’s agreement with Glencore Agriculture is expected to generate around USD 8.27 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charters.
With the sale of Dione and Danae, Diana Shipping’s fleet will consist of 46 dry bulk vessels, including 4 Newcastlemax, 14 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax and 18 Panamax.