FRANKFURT: The Europe’s biggest insurer Allianz is close to selling a US insurer, the personal insurance business of Fireman’s Fund, the German company bought in 1991.
Ace and AmTrust were not immediately available for comment. Allianz and AIG refused to comment on the matter.
Further the German insurer started a major revamp of Fireman’s Fund this year. It said in September it would integrate Fireman’s commercial property and casualty (P&C) business into Allianz’s specialty insurance business Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).
Its reserves for past claims to be topped up Fireman’s Fund have been a headache for Europe’s biggest insurer for years and have repeatedly needed prompting calls by some analysts for a sale of the business.
At Fireman’s Fund caters the personal insurance business for high net worth individuals and accounted for about a third of the company’s gross premiums in 2013.