The sale price and other details of the sale, to Astra Asigurari, were not disclosed. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, according to a statement issued by the Paris-based Axa Group.
Astra Asigurari was described by an English-language Romanian news website as being owned by a Romanian businessman named Dan Adamescu, whose other interests, it said, include the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest.
The news website, Romania-insider.com, also noted that the sale represented “the first time after the fall of communism that a Romanian insurance company takes over a foreign one”.
Axa first entered the Romanian market in 2010, when it acquired Omniasig Asigurri de Via from the Vienna Insurance Group, Romania-insider.com said. It noted that the French insurer had invested some €29.3m in Astra Asigurari since then, not counting what it spent on the acquisition of Omniasig Asigurri; and that Astra Asigurari reported premium revenue of around €133m in the first half of 2013, up 16% over the same period a year earlier.
Romania joined the European Union in 2007, alongside Bulgaria. It has been the subject of news reports in the UK recently owing to concerns that many Romanians will seek to emigrate to Britain after 1 January, when work restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians will be relaxed.
Europe's major insurance companies have been buying and selling insurance businesses in Romania with some regularity over the last few years. As reported, UK insurance giant Aviva last year sold its Czech, Hungarian and Romanian life businesses to local subsidiaries of global insurance provider MetLife.
In January of this year, Aegon bought Eureko's life insurance and pension business in Romania and integrated it within its existing operations, in a deal that was said destined to make Aegon the country's third-largest pension provider and a top 10 provider of life insurance products.
