Allianz Buys $738 Million Insurer in Brazil From SulAmerica

(Bloomberg) -- Allianz SE agreed to pay 667 million euros ($738 million) for the general-insurance assets of SulAmerica, a deal that will make the German firm Brazil’s second-largest provider of motor insurance.

Europe’s largest insurer will combine the new assets with its existing Brazilian subsidiary to create a business with 1.5 billion euros of gross written premiums, according to a company statement on Friday. The property and casualty insurance market in Brazil is growing at 6% a year and it is by far the biggest in Latin America.

An Allianz spokesman said the insurer would not rule out further acquisitions in Brazil. The country’s life insurance market is bigger than property and casualty.

The SulAmerica deal, which Allianz expects to complete within 12 months, is the Munich-based company’s third significant deal this year. Allianz in May agreed to buy two insurance businesses in the U.K. in deals valued at a combined $1 billion, transforming the firm into the second-biggest general insurer in the country. In June, Banco Santander SA agreed to pay Allianz 937 million euros to buy it out of an insurance joint venture in Spain. The deal will knock Allianz out of the top 10 life insurers in Spain, an unusual position for the German company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Will Hadfield in London at whadfield@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry

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