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LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Italy's top insurer Assicurazioni
Generali has dropped out of the race to buy the asset
management arm of Dutch rival NN Group NV, two sources
familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Generali and Deutsche Bank's asset management
unit DWS were among suitors that last week filed
non-binding bids for the company which oversees assets linked to
NN's life insurance products, sources had said.
But the people on Tuesday said Generali had decided to quit
the process, which is expected to be very competitive.
Generali declined to comment while NN was not immediately
available for comment.
Analysts say a reported initial price tag of 1.5 billion
euros ($1.83 billion) for the NN unit is likely to go up in the
bidding process.
Italy's largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo had also
considered bidding last week but decided against submitting a
preliminary offer, a source close to the matter said.
Generali, which last week announced a 1.17 billion euro
($1.4 billion) takeover bid for domestic rival Cattolica
, says it has "a disciplined and opportunistic"
approach to acquisitions.
In March it lost out to Allianz in the race to
acquire Aviva's Polish operations.
Taking into account the Cattolica bid and a 300 million euro
deal to buy rival AXA's assets in Malaysia, Generali
has some 800 million euros left for acquisitions under its
current plan through 2021. ($1 = 0.8213 euros)
($1 = 0.8211 euros)
(Reporting by Valentina Za, Gianluca Semeraro and Pamela
Barbaglia; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)
Aviva (AV.)
