EUREKO COMPLETES MERGER WITH PORTUGUESE INSURANCE UNIT

Pan-European banking and insurance group Eureko has completed its takeover of the insurance business of Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP), which was announced last July. Eureko said that the merger “paves the way for the new group to pursue its aim of becoming a top 10 pan-European financial services company, and to obtain a public listing in 2002”. BCP will own a 17% stake in Eureko as a result of the deal, with Dutch group Achmea owning 70% and the rest being held by the UK’s Friends Provident, France's MAAF Assurances, Germany's Parion, Swiss Mobiliar, Sweden’s LF Group and Netherlands-based service company EurAPCo. Denmark’s Topdanmark is a Eureko alliance member and has an indirect interest in the group through its stake in EurAPCo. Eureko is currently Europe’s 14th-largest insurer in terms of premium income, which totalled 9.2bn euros on a pro-forma basis at the end of 1999. Including the activities acquired from BCP and Achmea's asset management business, the group has assets under management of 78bn euros.