Unipol Gruppo offers to buy out its unit UnipolSai (updated)

UnipolSai Assicurazioni SpA

16/02/2024 08:23

(Adds transaction details, context, UnipolSai results)
       Feb 16 (Reuters) - Italian financial group Unipol Gruppo
 UNPI.MI  said on Friday it intends to buy out its unit
UnipolSai  US.MI  by launching offers for the 14.75% stake it
does not own in the insurer, in a move aimed at rationalising
its overall business structure.
    Unipol Gruppo will offer 2.70 euro ($2.91) for each
UnipolSai share it does not own, incorporating a premium of
12.6% to the Feb. 15 share price, it said. It will also offer to
exchange three of its own shares for every 10 shares in
UnipolSai, Italy's second-largest insurer.
    UnipolSai shareholders can choose either to sell their
shares in the voluntary tender offer or to become Unipol Gruppo
investors by accepting the share exchange proposal, the company
said in a second statement, adding it will be using its own
financial resources for the deal.
    The company will change its name to Unipol Assicurazioni SpA
after the transaction, which is expected to conclude by end of
2024.
    The long-expected move is intended to simplify the structure
of the two groups and have a single listed company on the Milan
Bourse.
    Unit UnipolSai said on Friday its 2023 consolidated net
profit came in at 766 million euros compared with 651 million
euros in 2022, calculated using the accounting standards
previously in effect.
    It also proposed a dividend per share of 0.165 euros,
marginally up from 0.16 euro per share it distributed the
previous year.
    Direct insurance income from non-life business, the group's
biggest revenue earner, were up 4.2% year-on-year for 2023 at
8.7 billion euros, while income from life business jumped 20% to
6.4 billion euros "despite ongoing market difficulties due to a
general increase in interest rates", the company said.   
    UnipolSai's combined ratio - a measure of profitability for
its property and casualty division - stood at December-end at
98.2%, improving from 98.6% in September. Readings below 100%
indicate profitability.
   ($1 = 0.9293 euros)

 (Reporting by Alberto Chiumento; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((Alberto.chiumento@thomsonreuters.com))