Bermudian-domiciled Athora Holding Ltd announced that it will acquire Belgian insurer Generali Belgium SA in a deal worth €€540 million ($668 million).

Generali Belgium is today the eleventh largest insurer in Belgium and is the Belgium-based subsidiary of international insurance group Assicurazioni Generali SpA.

The company serves the Belgian market with a comprehensive product set including single and recurring premium savings; pension and unit-linked life products; motor, homeowners and renters non-life coverage.

Generali Belgium has approximately 420,000 customers served by 430 team members, had total gross written premiums of over €€640 million in 2017, and total assets of €€5.3 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018, subject to regulatory approvals.

Michele Bareggi, group managing partner at Athora stated: “Since our successful capital raise in April 2017, we have been rapidly expanding our presence in Europe.

“In addition to launching our business with the acquisitions of Delta Lloyd Lebensversicherung in 2015 and Aegon Ireland earlier this month, this transaction is another major step towards our goal of becoming the premier European insurance consolidator and life reinsurance partner.

“Belgium is a target market for Athora, where we plan to deploy substantial capital over the next few years, and Generali Belgium is a perfect fit for our strategy and growth plans in the country.”

In April 2017, Athora received binding subscriptions through a private placement of common equity securities. The offering involved subscriptions representing approximately €2.2 billion from global institutional investors and is intended to support its existing business lines and capital and reinsurance transactions in the European insurance market.