KBC Group has agreed to acquire the Bulgarian pension and life insurance businesses of NN Group in a deal worth €77.7m ($94.3m).
KBC executed the deal through its Bulgarian subsidiary DZI.
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The transaction involves the acquisition of all the shares of NN Pension Insurance Company (NN PIC) along with all the assets and liabilities of NN Insurance– Sofia Branch (NN Life).
The takeover of NN PIC will enable KBC to deepen its bank-insurance offering through the addition of pension fund products. It will also offer additional cross-selling opportunities for banking and non-life insurance products, KBC said.
NN Life is said to enable KBC to boost its life insurance market share in Bulgaria through a various traditional life insurance and unit linked insurance products.
The deal, which awaits regulatory nod, is expected to bolster DZI’s distribution capabilities through NN Life’s network of 300 tied insurance agents in main cities across Bulgaria.
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By GlobalDataKBC Bulgaria country manager Peter Andronov said: “This deal gives our 1.8 million customers access to pension insurance and additional life insurance opportunities, in addition to our broad range of stable, secure and fully integrated financial solutions.
“Expanding our activities in Bulgaria, building on the competence and dynamism of UBB and DZI, and leveraging our joint product and service offering will help us to achieve our objectives, diversifying our income and ensure future success.”
The deal is expected to have an “immaterial impact” on KBC’s capital position upon deal completion in the course of this year.
The firm said that the acquisition will lower KBC Insurance’s Solvency II ratio by nearly six percentage points, which is said to be well above regulatory requirements.
Since 2007, KBC has been operating in Bulgaria, which became one of the firm’s core markets two years later.
NN has forayed into Bulgaria in 2001. It currently has a workforce of 138 and over 400,000 individual and 400 corporate clients in the country.
NN International Insurance CEO Fabian Rupprecht said: “This change of ownership is in line with NN’s strategy and portfolio review, as announced in June last year.
‘The divestment of our Bulgarian business does not change our focus and commitment towards the Central Eastern and European region, as it remains one of our key growth regions.”
In 2018, KBC through DZI purchased MetLife’s 40% stake in UBB-MetLife Life Insurance Company, a life insurance joint venture between United Bulgarian Bank and MetLife.
