Zurich Insurance Group is contemplating offloading general insurance assets in Australia, according to a Bloomberg report.
Bloomberg sources revealed that the Switzerland-based global insurance giant – which recently named former TAL executive Justin Delaney as its new chief executive officer for Australia and New Zealand – is looking to possibly divest several of its non-core commercial assets in Australia to “streamline its portfolio,” in a transaction that could be worth several hundred million dollars.
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The deliberations are still preliminary and with no final decision yet, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
Zurich’s business in Australia has expanded significantly over the past several years, mainly driven by acquisitions. The insurer completed its $722 million acquisition of Sydney-based Cover-More in 2017, while its $2.85 billion swoop of ANZ’s life insurance business was completed in 2019.
The news follows a Reuters report earlier this year which claimed that Zurich was looking to sell certain books of business in Italy and Germany with an equity value of around €200 million.
Zurich reported a significant surge in this year’s H1 results – with business operating profit up 60% to US$2.7 billion, P&C operating profit leaping 108% to US$1.5 billion, and its P&C combined operating ratio cut to 93.9%.
