Allianz is eyeing a carve up of Aviva France, bagging the non-life business, according to reports.

The life business would be hived off to its partner in the consortium, Athora, Le Figaro reports. 

Athora would take the lion’s share of the business, as life makes up £387m operating profits which is more than 90% of the business. 

However, Allianz faces competition from Generali, Eurazeo and Macif who have all submitted bids, it is reported. 

Virginie Morgon, chief executive of Eurazeo, confirmed Eurazeo’s interest in Aviva France last Friday.

Eurazeo has 4,500 staff and turnover of €7.5bn. It has €115bn assets under management. 

The sale of Aviva France is part of chief executive Amanda Blanc’s plan to simplify Aviva, selling off non-core foreign units and creating a UK champion. 

Avvia France is the biggest profit generator in Aviva’s European business. 

Aviva France contributes £410m in profits, a little under half of all profits in 2019, according to last year’s annual reports. 

Blanc has led the sale of operations across a number of countries. 

Blanc says the UK has a great non-life business and she wants the insurer to once again be a ‘leader’.

The former Zurich executive is keen to improve value to investors, with Aviva the only insurer to have negative returns to shareholders over the last five years compared to rivals Zurich, AXA and Allianz.