Aspis Holdings to bid for Agrotiki Insurance

The Cyprus based Aspis Holdings (ASP.CY) is to join international and Greek suitors seeking to acquire majority control of Agrotiki Insurance in a deal valued up to EUR 150 mln.
Agrotiki Insurance, a member of the Agricultural Bank of Greece is one of the largest insurance companies in Greece, and one of the few already listed on Athens Stock Exchange.
The Greek state, which holds a 84% stake in Agrotiki Insurance has indicated that it is willing to sell up to 64% of its stake but retain a 20% stake. According to Greek sources, the deadline for submission of binding bids is June 23, 2008, but it is not yet clear if the Greek government will hold a public tender.
The Agricultural Bank or ATEbank as it is widely known, said that it has agreed with the outside consultants Deloitte Business Solutions S.A., that in addition to participation in the share capital of Agrotiki Insurance, it is prepared to sign a binding agreement for bankassurance services with the winning consortium for at least 10 years.

Heavyweights
In addition to the Cyprus based Aspis Holdings, which also includes Commercial Value SA, the other suitors according to a separate report by the Greek financial web site Capital.gr are the French Groupama (holds a stake in Greek insurer Phinikia), Macif (insurer that manages the assets of the Teachers Pension Funds), the German Ergo (represented in Greece by Victoria), the Dutch based Eureko (owns Interamerican), the Spanish Mapfre as well as European Credit (30% owned by Piraeus Bank).
The intention of the Greek government is to wrap up the whole procedure by October and sell the majority stake in Agrotiki Insurance in an attempt to raise EUR 130-160 mln including the bankassurance deal, but industry sources suggest that the value of the bids might be lower in view of the global credit crunch.