Groupama to sell UK business
French insurance group Groupama has put its UK business up for sale in a move that could raise up to £300m.
Groupama to sell UK business Photo: IAN ROMAN
6:13PM GMT 12 Jan 2012
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The company has appointed Deutsche Bank to advise on the sale, which will
include both its UK underwriting division and insurance broking businesses
such as Manchester-based Bollington.
Groupama has been hit heavily by the eurozone debt crisis and replaced its
chief executive Jean Azema in October following a series of poor results. Mr
Azema, who was replaced by Thierry Martle, was blamed for the company having
its credit rating downgraded last year.
François-Xavier Boisseau, the company’s UK chief executive, said a cheap sale
was “out of the question”.
Mr Boisseau told Insurance Times: “The sale process will start very
soon. The group will decide on the quality of the offers.
“What is very true is that the group appreciates the value of its UK
operation. When we publish the results for 2011, they will show again a very
significant increase in profit and demonstrate that the UK is a valuable
asset to the group. For the group, it is out of the question to undersell
its UK assets.”
