US investment fund Apollo Global Management has partnered with Bankinter of Spain to make a formal bid for Swiss private bank BSI. BSI is the Italian insurer Generali's main underwriter and the purchase is expected to reach Eur2 billion or US$2.6 billion.
The deal was reported by three different individuals with knowledge of the transaction. Other bidders for BSI include Safra of Brazil and ICBC of China.
The sale is expected to provide Eur4 billion of capital funds from non-core assets and to comply with the new regulations applicable to European insurers. Generali is currently Europe's third biggest insurer and share prices jumped 3.78% in Milan's bourse.
All the parties refused to provide a comment on the transaction while Safra and ICBC did not return requests for comments.
Many analysts is saying that the sale would be tough to make despite BSI being a good asset. A person familiar with the transaction who spoke under condition of anonymity said, "The problem is that it is a big and has a very restricted number of possible buyers."
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