{"id":376914,"date":"2026-03-10T02:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376914\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:49:13","slug":"zurich-to-buy-generalis-irish-insurance-unit-redclick-for-e337m-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/376914\/","title":{"rendered":"Zurich to buy Generali\u2019s Irish insurance unit RedClick for \u20ac337m \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zurich Insurance<\/a>\u2019s Irish arm has agreed to buy RedClick Insurance from Italian insurer Generali<\/a> for \u20ac337 million, in a deal that will propel it into the top three general insurers<\/a> in the Republic. <\/p>\n

The development is in line with Zurich\u2019s retail strategy for its European business, the Swiss group said in a statement. It will transform its Irish market position to match that of its life insurance business. <\/p>\n

The Irish Times reported in December<\/a> that Zurich and Intact Insurance Ireland, previously known as RSA Ireland, were among a small numbers of parties still involved in the process as the sale reached an advanced stage. <\/p>\n

The outcome will come as a surprise to many industry observers. Intact had been seen as the most likely buyer, especially after it emerged last month that Zurich was advancing on a much bigger deal in the UK with speciality insurer Beazley. The group agreed last week to buy Beazley for about \u00a38.1 billion (\u20ac9.35 billion). <\/p>\n

The RedClick deal in Ireland would mark a second change in ownership of that business in recent years. The insurer was acquired by Generali in early 2024 from US-based Liberty Mutual<\/a> as part of a wider European transaction. The unit was subsequently rebranded as RedClick. <\/p>\n

Zurich had been among final bidders for the Liberty Mutual assets in Europe, which included businesses in Ireland, Spain and Portugal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important and exciting milestone for our business and reflects Zurich\u2019s long-term commitment to the Irish insurance market,\u201d said Anthony Brennan, chief executive of Zurich Ireland. \u201cFollowing completion, the RedClick team and customers will transfer and become part of Zurich\u2019s non-life insurance business here in Ireland.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Irish business was originally set up as Quinn Insurance three decades ago by businessman Se\u00e1n Quinn. It was taken over by Liberty Mutual in 2011 after falling into administration with a large hole in its balance sheet.<\/p>\n

Generali hired Bank of America early last year to carry out a strategic review of the unit, which has an estimated 4.5 per cent share of the \u20ac4.5 billion general insurance market in the Republic, measured by annual gross written premiums. The investment bank started running a sale process later in the year as part of the review process. <\/p>\n

The Italian group had previously closed a small Irish property and casualty business in Dublin in 2000. <\/p>\n

RedClick had 250,000 customers and more than 400 employees across offices in Cavan, Enniskillen and Dublin. Zurich has more than 1,000 employees in a number of offices here, spanning general insurance, life and pensions operations and group services. <\/p>\n

Zurich, which has an almost 10 per cent share of the Irish general insurance market, has not said what it expects to happen to all of the jobs and locations once the tie-up goes through. <\/p>\n

Zurich said its ambition is \u201cto grow its insurance offering in line with the evolving needs of Irish customers\u201d. The acquisition is conditional on legal and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of 2026 or early 2027. <\/p>\n

Zurich\u2019s move to increase its exposure to the Irish general insurance market follows a series of reforms aimed at reducing volatility and coverage costs in a historically highly volatile market even by the standards of the cyclical nature of insurance internationally. <\/p>\n

There have also been new entrants in recent years. South African insurer Outsurance<\/a> officially launched an Irish motor and home coverage offering in 2024. Revolut<\/a> also entered the Irish motor insurance and travel market in 2023, with policies underwritten by AIG<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zurich Insurance\u2019s Irish arm has agreed to buy RedClick Insurance from Italian insurer Generali for \u20ac337 million, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[165726,79,18,49647,19,3912,17,49648,49649,10927,61364],"class_list":["post-376914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aig","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-generali","tag-ie","tag-insurance","tag-ireland","tag-liberty-mutual-group","tag-outsurance","tag-revolut","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116202606617319512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}