Hellenic Bank Group is to take over 100% of the shares of Hellenic Alico Life Insurance Company Limited, according to insiders.
One also said that negotiations paving the way for Hellenic Bank to acquire the 27.5% stake of Metlife Services Cyprus Limited in Hellenic Alico is at a very advanced stage. Metlife Services Cyprus Limited is a subsidiary of MetLife Group.
Even though not officially confirmed, it seems that the decision is final and may also mean that the bank’s management have drafted a more general policy on the lender’s insurance companies.
Afterall, the prospectus accompanying Hellenic Bank’s recent capital increase procedure had noted that all possibilities on the Group’s insurance companies are open and under review.
Hellenic Alico has strongly benefitted from last year’s acquisition by Hellenic Bank of Cyprus Co-operative Bank and the customer base that came with it considering that it had reached a Group Life Insurance Agreement. This ensured that Co-op bank customers whose credit facilities had been transferred to Hellenic Bank continued to enjoy the relative coverage.
No wonder figures released by the Cyprus Insurance Association for the first quarter of 2019 show Hellenic Alico to have increased its market share to 22.5% from 3.66% a year before. And that its total premiums in the health sector amounted to €25.7 million, recording an increase of 457.6%.
It is obvious that the acquisition of the Co-op bank has created positive synergies for Hellenic Alico – something that prompted Hellenic’s decision to take full control of the insurance company. Hellenic Bank holds 725,000 of the insurance company’s shares while Metlife has 250,000 shares.
Hellenic Bank’s annual report shows that the insurance company’s gross premiums were €12.1 million by end of 2018 while profits after tax amounted to €3.1 million. Hellenic Alico’s assets were €49 million and total liabilities €33.6 million, so net assets amounted to €15.4 million.
Chairman of the Board of Directors is Phivos Stasopoulos, and executive directors and members are Mario Francisco Valesco, Antonis Karpasitis, Adamos Savvides, Dimitris Efstathiou and Andreas Papadatos.
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/hellenic-bank-to-hire-new-auditors-within-weeks/
