Groupama aims to shore up balance sheet with French general insurance sale

Euro notes

Groupama aims to raise up to €1billion from the sale of its GAN Assurances unit.

The French mutual is being urged to hurry up with the sale by the French regulator and a deal could be finalised by the end of the year.

Allianz, AXA and Covea are all though to be interested in bidding.

Groupama is hoping to earn between €700m and €1billion from the sale, depending on whether all of GAN Assurance comes on the block, sources said, according to Reuters.

Groupama’s exposure to peripheral eurozone debt is more than three times its shareholders’ equity, meaning it has to find extra capital to protect itself from a further deterioration of events in the continent.