KBC FINALIZES SALE OF WARTA TO TALANX

Belgian bancassurer KBC has concluded the sale of Poland's second-largest insurer Warta to German insurance holding operation Talanx. The €770m (then $998m) cash deal was announced in January ( IIN 24, January 20 2012). Japan's Meiji Yasuda will buy a 30% stake in Warta from Talanx. Warta had gross written premiums of PLN1.25bn ($374m) in Q1 2012, of which PLN649m was in non-life and PLN599m was in life. Net profit in Q1 was PLN125.3m. KBC Group CEO Johan Thijs said that "with the divestment of Warta, we have completed another major step in implementing our updated strategy".