Guernsey-headquartered insurance group Utmost has signalled a global expansion of its footprint according to its top executives, after the acquisition Generali Worldwide officially went live on Friday.
Generali Worldwide, based in Guernsey and Ireland, has officially been named Utmost Worldwide following completion of its acquisition by the Utmost Group, International Adviser can exclusively reveal.
Giorgio Daboni (pictured above), chief executive of Utmost Worldwide, said in a statement: “Our business is an ideal fit with the growing Utmost Group of Companies and our international branch network complements the group’s existing strong position in key European markets.”
Paul Thompson, group chief executive, Utmost Group of Companies, said: “Acquiring Generali Worldwide is another important milestone in Utmost’s ambition to develop a specialist international life assurance footprint.”
He added: “A growing number of high net worth individuals and mobile expatriate employees are becoming more international in the outlook and behaviour.”
In July 2018, Utmost’s parent company, Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG) announced its planned acquisition of Generali Worldwide, paying around €409m (£364.3m, $476.1m), plus up to €10m for Generali Worldwide and Generali Link.
The deal was subject to regulatory and competition authority approvals, and as expected at the time it has now completed in the first quarter of 2019.
Nick Griffin, chief commercial officer, Generali Worldwide, told International Adviser at the time: “This is a very exciting development for our organisation and I would like to reassure our adviser network that it is very much business as usual and we will continue to provide them with the high levels of service and support that they are accustomed to.”
Generali Worldwide provides single premium and regular premium unit‐linked investment solutions to customers outside the EU. It has £4.5bn in assets under administration and over 70,000 planholders.
In addition, it is a partner of Generali Employee Benefits for the provision of protection and retirement products to multi-national employers.
Included in the deal was Ireland-based Generali Link, a service provider with a particular focus on fund and policy administration.
The business provides services to Generali Worldwide, as well as Utmost PanEurope (formerly Generali PanEurope) which was also acquired by LCCG in December 2017.
