ERGO INDIAN DEAL SET TO BE SIGNED NEXT WEEK

German insurer Ergo, the primary insurance unit of Munich Re, has won the race to be the insurance partner of India’s Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), and a deal is expected to be signed next week, according to a report in German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . The report, citing unnamed sources, said that Munich Re CEO Nikolas von Bomhard would sign the deal next Tuesday during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to India. Two weeks ago HDFC executive director Renu Sud Kamad revealed that the name of its new foreign partner would be announced “within three weeks”. Ergo and Australian insurer IAG were thought to be the leading contenders. In May, US-based insurer Chubb quit as 26% minority partner in its insurance joint venture with HDFC after the two companies disagreed on the venture’s future strategy. Since then the insurance operation has been 100%-owned by HFDC. The company paid about Rp320m ($7.91m) to buy out Chubb’s minority stake.