The French Mutualist Insurer Covéa (MAAF, MMA and GMF) has again signed a Memorandum of Understanding to redeem the Bermudian reinsurer at a price of $ 9 billion. It had been drafted in May 2020, in the heart of the pandemic, because of the uncertainties then weighing the global economic outlook.
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These foot changes are not so common in the business world. The French leader in Covéa damage insurance, which owns the mutuals MAAF, MMA and GMF, decides again to redeem $ 9 billion (7.7 billion euros), the Bermudian reinsurer Partnerre in Exor, the Financial holding of the Italian family Agnelli (Shareholder of Stellantis). The mutualist announced, Thursday, October 28, in a statement the signature of a “Memorandum of understanding”, the acquisition being planned during the first half of 2022.
The French group had already first laid off on this reinsurer, and signed an equivalent agreement with exor on March 3, 2020. In the meantime, the pandemic and its consequences on the global economy had been disrupting the operation . After trying to renegotiate the downward acquisition price, Covéa had given up two months later, paying the passage of compensation “less than 100 million euros” for the costs incurred by Partnerre. The links between the two groups, however, had returned through joint investments.
International ambitions
The boss of the mutual insurer, Thierry Derez, has always wanted to develop his group abroad, judging it too hexagonal. “These years ago we are interested in reinsurance because we no longer have a development potential in France, regularly explains CEO of Covéa. In damages, we are the first insurer; in life insurance, the weakness of rates do not encourage us to move forward, and in health we do not want to be a simple complement of social security. “One of the possibilities” would have been to plant flags by acquisition everywhere in the world, but it is risky, and very few insurers have succeeded. The other track is to develop in reinsurance. That’s what we have chosen, “said Thierry Derez in an interview in the world two years ago . In addition, he believes that the border between reinsurance and insurance tends to diminish. Hence the idea of drawing inspiration from the model of the German insurer Talanx, which has the third world reinsurer Hannover Re.
Before covering the Bermudian group, Mr. Derez tried, in vain, to get the hand in August 2018 on French SCOR, of which he was the first shareholder, with 8.2% of the capital. This attempt was a fiasco. The two champions of French finance have come for nearly three years to a merciless war, which resulted in last June by a regulation to the detriment of the mutual insurer – a transactional agreement allowing Thierry dez and to Covéa to avoid the criminal trial.
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