Aviva sells Eastern Europe units to Metlife

Av iv a , Br i t a i n's s e c o n d - big g est insurer sold its life insurance operations in the C z e c h Re p u b l i c , Hu n g a r y a n d Ro mania t o U. S . r iv a l Metlife as par t of a plan to refocus on ter ritories where it makes the most money.

T he three units account for less than 0.5 per cent of g ro up p ro f i t a nd had t o t a l a s s e t s o f 5 7 mil l i o n e u r o s ( $ 7 5 mil l i o n) at t he e nd o f June 2011, Aviva said yester- day without disclosing what price they fetched.

Met l i f e, t h e b i g g e s t U. S . l i f e i n s u r e r, s a i d t h e d e a l reflected its strate g y of “i nves t i ng a nd g rowing i n high-potential markets.”

“This transaction creates an excellent oppor tunity t o r e a c h mo r e c u s t o me r s with a broader product and service of fering,” Metlife's EMEA President Michel Khalaf said in a statement.

A n a l y s t s s a y, C e n t r a l and Easter n Europe's comparatively strong economic g row t h , c o u p l e d w i t h i t s re l at ive ly under- devel oped retail financial services market, make it one of the wo rl d 's m o s t p r o m i s i n g re gions for insurers, alongside booming south-east Asia.

The disposals for m p a r t o f Av i v a ' s s t r a t e g y, launched in November 2010, of withdrawing from ter ritories where it is too small to compete and concentrati n g o n i t s most p r o f i t a bl e operations.

T h e C z e ch Re p u bl i c, Hung ary and Romania are among 18 of Aviva's 30 countries which it has identified as low-priority.

Under the plan, the insure r h a s a l s o s o l d i t s R AC roadside recovery business and shar ply reduced its stake in Dutch insurer Delta Lloyd.

(Reuters)