AIG, until recently the biggest insurer in the world, will have to sell out part of its companies to pay back its debts. PZU, Poland’s largest insurer may be one of the potential buyers. Several months ago, the company’s management said they would spent PLN 10bn (EUR 2.9bn) for acquisitions. They said that problems of one of global corporations could force it to sell operations in Central and Eastern Europe while PZU would be interested. Today, PZU CEO refuses to comment on AIG problems but he confirms what he had said before.
“We will closely watch every opportunity to buy firms in this part of Europe”, Andrzej Klesyk, PZU CEO said.
In Poland, AIG has life and non-life insurance business, the fourth largest pension fund, investment fund and a bank. To PZU, AIG’s foreign businesses would be more interesting, i.e. insurance companies in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria or Austria.
“It would be a great deal for PZU to acquire AIG business. The company is not a great player in the region but has a stabile position. PZU would get access to many markets and acquire a bank in Poland, something it has mentioned desirable”, Marcin Mazurek, Intelace Research analyst commented.
Some experts believe it won’t be so easy for PZU to acquire AIG assets.
“AIG is told to sell non-core business including plane leasing, etc. If it sells its life-insurance companies, they may include those operating in the USA”, Marcin Broda from Ogma company commented.
Others specialists are more optimistic.
“AIG is a company owned by US government. It won’t be a great international corporation any longer. It will rather sell its foreign assets and limit operations to the territory of the USA”, the CEO of one of big insurance companies in Poland believed.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.297)