Gjensidige Sells $546 Million Stake in Norway Insurer Storebrand

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Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, Norway’s largest insurer, sold its remaining 20.1 percent stake in life insurance and pension provider Storebrand ASA for 3.3 billion kroner ($546 million) as it focuses on general insurance.

Gjensidige, based in Lysaker near Oslo, sold about 90.5 million shares in Storebrand at 36 kroner [$5.956] apiece in an offering to institutional investors, it said in a statement today. That represents a 3.1 percent discount to yesterday’s closing price of 37.14 kroner [$6.144], it said.

“Following the completion of the sale, Gjensidige will not hold any shares in Storebrand,” the company said. The insurer will book an accounting gain of about 115 million kroner [$19 million] from the transaction, it said. The names of the institutional buyers weren’t disclosed.

Gjensidige is seeking to cut costs and boost earnings as it tries to increase market share in the Nordic region. The insurer doesn’t have a “strategic or financial appetite” for defined- benefit pensions and guarantee business, Chief Executive Officer Helge Leiro Baastad said on Oct. 22.

Gjensidige sold 19 million shares in Storebrand at 34.75 [$5.75] kroner apiece on Oct. 18, saying it no longer viewed the holding as a strategic investment. The insurer also earlier this month canceled plans to sell its 10.4 percent stake in Sparebank 1 SR- Bank ASA, a Norwegian lender.

Shares in Gjensidige fell 0.2 percent to 125.3 kroner [$20.73] as of 10:29 a.m. in Oslo, having earlier gained as much 2 percent to 128 kroner [$21.175], the highest intraday level since first selling shares in 2010. Storebrand gained as much as 3.2 percent and traded 1.4 percent higher at 37.64 kroner.

–Editors: Alastair Reed, Steve Bailey