Baloise, the Swiss insurer, will spend half a billion francs to buy an insurer in Belgium. The deal makes the company the No. 4 in non-life insurance in the country.
Baloise agreed to buy Fidea for 480 million euros ($543 million), according to a statement released by the Basel-based company on Monday. The takeover is third such transaction in Belgium in the past decade.
Baloise will move up to fourth position in the rank of non-life insurers in Belgium, with a market share of 8.5 percent. The market share in life insurance in Belgium is 4.2 percent. With 37 percent, the total Belgian non-life business accounts for about the same share of the total business as the Swiss unit’s.
Baloise acquired the Fidea stake from China’s Anbang Insurance Group. The Belgian company had a premium volume of 352 million francs in 2018, with more than two thirds generated by the non-life business. Fidea is based in Antwerp and has 360 members of staff.
