groupama in manovra
UPDATE 1-Groupama targets 1.8 bln euros from asset sales-source
Reuters - 28/11/2011 16:50:57
* Selling 44 pct of SILIC, disposing of GAN Eurocourtage
* Group is suffering capital adequacy problems
* French peers, Japan's Tokio Marine could be interested buyers
(Adds details)
By Sophie Sassard
LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Groupama is hoping to raise about 1.8 billion euros from the sale of a 44 percent stake in real estate company SILIC (
SIL.PAR) and the disposal of insurance broker GAN Eurocourtage, a source familiar with the company's thinking said.
The French mutual insurer is hoping to raise 800 million euros by the end of the year by selling its stake in SILIC, and is currently in preliminary discussions with several real estate and insurance companies for this purpose, the source said.
Groupama is also exploring a sale of its brokerage unit GAN Eurocourtage, which it will not offload for less than 1 billion euros, the source said.
The company, hampered by bigger-than-average investments in equities and distressed eurozone government bonds, is the first big European insurer to suffer capital adequacy problems as a result of the sovereign debt crisis.
French insurers AXA (
CS.PAR), CNP Assurances (
CNP.PAR) and Japan's Tokio Marine could be among the interested parties for GAN Eurocourtage, the source and one banker that advises European insurance companies said.
Groupama is hoping to agree a deal for SILIC quite quickly because selling a stake is easier to execute than carving out a division that would also impact staff and jobs, the source added.
SILIC has a market capitalisation of 1.18 billion euros.
The sector banker cautioned that it would be difficult to make a profit on any asset sales at the moment, however, especially for a company under financial stress like Groupama.
The insurer attracted scrutiny from French regulator Autorite de Controle Prudentiel (ACP) when its solvency margins, usually above its peers at near 200 percent, plummeted to 117 percent this year, the first source said.
Ousted chief executive Jean Azema said in August that the group's net exposure to Portugal, Greece and Ireland "was adding up to 770 million euros," at the end of June, while net exposure to Italy was 1.5 billion euros.
SILIC's main property assets are concentrated at three business parks close to Orly and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airports, and the La Defense business district in Paris.
Groupama, SILIC, AXA, CNP Assurances declined to comment.
Tokio Marine were not available for immediate comment.