Resolution, Swiss Re eye life run-off policies

Britain’s Resolution Group, Swiss Re and private equity firm Cinven have expressed an interest in acquiring two large German life insurance portfolios owned by Ergo and Generali according to sources.

Munich Re’s primary insurance affiliate Ergo and the German subsidiary of Italy’s Generali are considering the sale of their respective portfolios of six million and four million policies in run-off.

A spokeswoman for Ergo said the company had yet to decide whether to sell the portfolio but would do so soon. Swiss Re and Cinven declined to comment, while Resolution was not immediately available to comment.

Ergo and fellow insurers are struggling to pay guaranteed returns to clients because of record-low interest rates. Combined with more stringent European capital rules, these have prompted some to offload some life insurance operations. Ergo’s run-off life portfolio has assets of EUR56 billion, while Generali’s is around EUR40 billion.

The sales of the Ergo and the Generali portfolios would mark the largest ever sale of closed books.