A Romanian takes over the reins of Groupama

Groupama, the third largest insurer in the wake of record investments of above half a billion euros operated by French group Groupama, will be run by a Romanian manager starting this autumn, after its operations have been coordinated by an expat since it entered the Romanian market. The current general manager, Denis Rousset, 44, will return to Paris in November, where he will hold a management position with the group. He will be replaced by Sanda Nicoară, 51, currently deputy general manager with Groupama Asigurări. The French group first tackled the Romanian insurance market in late 2007, when it paid 100m euros to take over BT Asigurări. In April 2008, it took the entire market by surprise when it won the tender for the acquisition of Asiban with a 350m-euro bid, double the value of the company's turnover. Meanwhile, Groupama has regionally taken over the insurance arm of Hungary's OTP group, present in Romania through OTP Garancia. The three companies merged last summer.