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The company considered to be the largest reinsurer in the world may purchase big businesses outside its sector if prices go down, a top executive has hinted.
Munich Re CFO Jörg Schneider told German newspaper Handelsblatt that the industry giant is interested in making large acquisitions in the primary insurance sector. However, the company is being held back by potential costs.
Schneider said acquisitions are too expensive and do not reflect the increasing global uncertainty. He doubted that prices may come down soon.
“We are open to large acquisitions but the prices simply haven’t been right in recent years,” Handelsblatt quoted Schneider as saying.
“If we were to make an acquisition, however, then it wouldn’t be in traditional reinsurance,” he added.
Schneider said the “ideal acquisition partners” would be the primary insurance companies with specialisations that can grow Munich Re’s expertise.
The report on Munich Re’s acquisitions comes amid the continuing saga on the possible merger or sale of Generali to other insurance giants, including Germany’s Allianz and France’s AXA.
Last week, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, another company circling Generali, confirmed that it was examining potential “industrial combinations” with the insurer.
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