Generali Romania, the company born from the merger of Ardaf and Generali Asigurari, currently holds 6.7% of the market on the basis of premiums underwritten by the two companies in the first half of this year and ranks seventh on the market. Generali ranked eighth by underwritten premiums in late June, while Ardaf was 11th.
“Through this merger we wanted to create a strong player and one of the main insurers on the Romanian market. We’re watching all emerging markets and the group wants to expand its presence on these markets through mergers and acquisitions. In Romania, we’re still working on this merger, even though we’re analyzing all the opportunities that arise,” said Gianluca Colocci, a member of Generali PPF’s executive board.
He says Romania is among Generali’s strategic markets, owing to the solid macroeconomic outlooks and the low penetration of insurance.
Starting this week, Generali’s Romanian operations are run by Adrian Marin, a former deputy general manager with Generali Asigurari. “We’re further focusing on life and non-car insurance, but we will not shun the car insurance segment. Each brand will sell its own products. We will have the same fees for the same type of products with the same coverage,” stated Adrian Marin.
Though Ardaf officially disappears from documents, all the policies being issued by Generali Romania, the brand and the territorial network will be retained. “We decided to keep the brands after we carried out market research showing the two companies have different client bases,” said Marie Kovarova, who will be a member of Generali PPF executive board.
She added the group targets 10% market share on all emerging markets, including Romania, on the long term, but that profitable growth is the main priority.
Generali and Ardaf had 230 offices together and around 1,000 employees in mid-2011. Marin says that, for the time being, there are no plans for personnel or territorial network reshuffling, but admits some units would need to have their efficiency boosted.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Radu Bostan)