Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

GAN POSITIONS FOR PRIVATIZATION

Reprints

PARIS-Groupe des Assurances Nationales S.A. hopes to soon sell its insurance operations.

GAN Chairman Didier Pfeiffer told a press conference in Paris that his company has held talks with Assurances Generales de France, the Netherlands' Internationale Nederlanden Groep N.V., Germany's Allianz Versicherungs A.G. and Italy's Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.

The sale likely would not be concluded until after France's legislative elections, the first round of which is on May 25 and the second round on June 7, a GAN spokes-woman said. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is advising GAN on the sales and SBC Warburg is advising the government. The French state owns 80% of GAN.

The French government announced a 20 billion franc ($3.44 billion) recapitalization of the company two months ago but said the money for it would come from the proceeds of future privatizations, not directly from French taxpayers. The next scheduled company to be privatized is telecommunications monopoly France Telecom.

Speculation about possible buyers for GAN's insurance business have caused GAN's share price to rise 7.4% over the past month to 143.30 francs ($25) on April 23.

GAN released its 1996 results late last month. It posted a net loss of 5.68 billion francs ($1.09 billion) compared with a loss of 1.79 billion francs ($365 million) in 1995. The 1996 result is net of a capital injection of 9 billion francs ($1.73 billion) from the French government earlier this year (BI, March 10). The losses were related mostly to GAN's real estate banking activities. The company's insurance results showed a profit of 1.04 billion francs ($200 million), compared with 700 million francs ($142.7 million) in 1995.

Meanwhile, AGF launched a 4 billion franc ($687 million) convertible bond issue in late April. The bond, which carries a 3.5% coupon with a maturity of 13 years, was three times oversubscribed as of April 24, an AGF spokeswoman said.

Part of the proceeds of the bond offering will go toward refinancing some of AGF's current debt. AGF has a total financial debt of 17 billion francs ($2.92 billion) and liabilities from its insurance operations of 12.5 billion francs ($2.15 billion). Its market capitalization as of late last month was about 23 billion francs ($3.95 billion).

The AGF spokeswoman added that the company's second priority is to reinforce its financial margins in the event it acquires companies, such as GAN. AGF also is examining other possible targets in the French market, such as Athena Assurances, a general insurer and a division of financial conglomerate Groupe Worms that may be offered for sale, she added.

A Worms spokeswoman said no decision had been made on the sale of Athena and would not confirm rumors that Worms had been negotiating a deal with Italian insurer, Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Generali could not be reached for comment.

Groupe Worms is 20% owned by Italy's Agnelli family, the controller of auto manufacturer Fiat that also owns Turin-based insurer Toro Assicurazioni S.p.A. Groupe Worms has hired the investment bank Morgan Stanley to study future options for Athena, she said.

PARIS-Groupe des Assurances Nationales S.A. hopes to soon sell its insurance operations.

GAN Chairman Didier Pfeiffer told a press conference in Paris that his company has held talks with Assurances Generales de France, the Netherlands' Internationale Nederlands Groep, Germany's Allianz Versicherung and Italy's Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A..

The sales would not likely be concluded until after France's legislative elections, the first round of which is on May 25 and the second round on June 7, a GAN spokeswoman said. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is advising GAN on the sales and SBC Warburg is advising the government. The French state owns 80% of GAN.

The French government announced a 20 billion franc ($3.44 billion) recapitalization of the company two months ago but said the money for it would come from the proceeds of future privatizations, not directly from French taxpayers. The next scheduled company to be privatized is telecommunications monopoly France Telecom.

Speculation about possible buyers for GAN's insurance business have caused GAN's share price to rise 7.4% over the past month to 143.30 francs ($25) on April 23.

GAN released its 1996 results late last month. It posted a net loss of 5.68 billion francs ($1.09 billion) compared with a loss of 1.79 billion francs ($365 million) in 1995. The 1996 result is net of a capital injection of 9 billion francs ($1.73 billion) from the French government earlier this year (BI, March 10). The losses were related mostly to GAN's real estate banking activities. The company's insurance results showed a profit of 1.04 billion francs ($200 million), compared with 700 million francs ($142.7 million) in 1995.

Meanwhile, AGF launched a 4 billion franc ($687 million) convertible bond issue in late April. The bond, which carries a 3.5% coupon with a maturity of 13 years, was three times oversubscribed as of April 24, an AGF spokeswoman said.

Part of the proceeds of the bond offering will go toward refinancing some of AGF's current debt. AGF has a total financial debt of 17 billion francs ($2.92 billion) and liabilities from its insurance operations of 12.5 billion francs ($2.15 billion). Its market capitalization as of late last month was about 23 billion francs ($3.95 billion).

The AGF spokeswoman added that the company's second priority is to reinforce its financial margins in the event it acquires companies, such as GAN. AGF also is examining other possible targets in the French market, such as Athena Assurances, a general insurer and a division of financial conglomerate Groupe Worms that may be offered for sale, she added.

A Worms spokeswoman said no decision had been made on the sale of Athena and would not confirm rumors that Worms had been negotiating a deal with Italian insurer, Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. Generali could not be reached for comment.

Groupe Worms is 20% owned by Italy's Agnelli family, the controller of auto manufacturer Fiat that also owns Turin-based insurer Toro Assicurazioni S.p.A. Groupe Worms has hired the investment bank Morgan Stanley to study future options for Athena, she said.