Insurance and investment giant AXA has completed the sale of its life & savings, property & casualty and pension businesses in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia to UNIQA Insurance Group for €1 billion.

UNIQA had been pegged as one of three bidders in the running to secure AXA’s Central and Eastern European operations after rumours of a deal emerged last October.

The Austria-based insurer had reportedly made it down to a shortlist with Assicurazioni Generali SpA and Vienna Insurance Group before securing the deal.

The completion of the transaction is expected to result in a positive impact of +2 points on AXA Group’s Solvency II ratio in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Upon announcing the deal earlier this year, AXA Chief Executive Thomas Buberl noted how it marks another step in the simplification of AXA’s footprint.

“We are convinced that AXA’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe will benefit from UNIQA’s strong presence and local expertise in the region to create new growth opportunities with a continued focus on delivering enhanced customer value propositions,” he said.

Source: Reinsurance News