Athora to acquire Italian life insurer, Amissima Vita S.p.A.

Pembroke, Bermuda, 23 September 2021 – Athora Holding Ltd. (Athora or the group), a life insurance and reinsurance group focused on the European market, has agreed to acquire Italian life insurer, Amissima Vita S.p.A. (Amissima Vita) as part of its continuing growth strategy focused on traditional life savings and pension products. The transaction is expected to complete within the first half of 2022, subject to applicable regulatory clearances.

This acquisition represents Athora’s first step into the Italian life insurance market, which is Europe’s third largest, and follows successful acquisitions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Germany.  Amissima Vita is among the top 20 insurers by new business sales in Italy and provides customers with a broad life insurance offering through its bancassurance partners and a network of agents. At year-end 2020, Amissima Vita’s assets stood at €7.2 billion, representing the savings of about 140,000 policyholders, and annual gross written premiums totalled over €800 million. 

Athora has raised new equity commitments from existing shareholders to finance this transaction.  The impact on the group's financial leverage ratio and group capital position is expected to be limited.  

Michele Bareggi, Group CEO at Athora said: “We have been strategically building Athora’s presence across Europe and are excited about the opportunity Amissima Vita provides as an important entry for the Italian market, where we see significant demand for our products and solutions.  We intend to play a key role in meeting the demand for life savings products with Amissima Vita’s distributors, and are committed to long-term growth in Italy.  Furthermore, we have demonstrated the merits of our leading approach to investments, risk and capital management, which we are excited to bring to this market.”

“Amissima Vita’s management team, dedicated employees and strong relationships with its distribution partners provide an excellent foundation for growth.  We look forward to welcoming Amissima Vita to the Athora family and working with the team to deliver more value to Italian customers in fulfilling their long-term insurance needs.” 

Amissima Vita has been owned by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. since 2015.  

Clifford Chance LLP served as legal counsel to Athora.