Austria's largest insurer, WienerStaedtische, which owns Unita and Agras in Romania, has voiced interest in buying other Romanians companies, as well.
"Another acquisition is likely to take place as soon as 2005," said Christian Brandstetter, chairman of Unita Monitoring Board and a member of WienerStaedtische Management Board.
Brandstetter has not specified what firms the company is in talks with or which insurers are being eyed by the company, saying only that they have Romanian shareholders and are among the top 15 on the market.
According to data for 2003, the companies meeting these two conditions are Asirom, Astra, Ardaf, Asiban and BCR Asigurari.
"When it comes to buying, the price comes first. At this point, there are several firms on the market with a weak financial situation. Certainly, one can wait until a critical situation is reached, but we do not want to wait so long," added Brandstetter, without offering further details.
As for the price of a possible transaction, Brandstetter said that, on Western markets, a company is assessed at about 30-50% of its turnover, but there are many factors that could modify this percentage, such as the capacity to generate profit.
Dan Odobescu, Unita general manager, stated that the company's target is to be among the top three players on the market by 2007, and gain the first position by 2010. The target will be reached either through organic growth, or through acquisitions.
"For the following years, we aim at growth of at least 5% above the overall market increase. For next year, we anticipate the overall insurance market will rise by 20-25%," said Odobescu. The company estimates gross premiums underwritten worth 42.5 million euros (1,700 billion ROL) in 2004, 20% higher in euros as compared to last year. WienerStaedtische entered the Romanian market in 2001, when it bought Timisoara-based Unita company. In 2002, the Austrians acquired the main stake in Agras from insurer Omniasig.
For the time being, a merger between Agras and Unita is out of the question, but there is a process involving the unification of all departments for cost-cutting reasons. The move does not include underwriting, sales and human resources.
In recent years, Austrian firms have invested heavily in Romania, with the latest operation being the takeover of Petrom by OMV, but the head of Unita's Monitoring Board says the company is not banking on this wave of investment for the projected growth. "What we gain from the ties we have with these firms accounts for less than 7% of our total business," Brandstetter specified.
sorin.pislaru@zf.ro
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