FRANKFURT, Oct 13 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Assicurazioni Generali has damped speculation of a capital increase, saying the Italian insurer does not need one in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt published Friday.
Asked about speculation of a capital increase, Philippe Donnet said: “We don’t need one.”
“Our capital position is strong,” he said. “We have a solvency quota of 207 percent. Investors and analysts told me last week in London that we had too much capital. A year ago, we were told we had too little. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.”
Donnet said Generali was seeing “great external interest” for its 44 billion euro ($52 billion) Germany life insurance portfolio.
Asked when a decision would be made on the possible sale of the portfolio, he said: “Whether we manage the book internally or give it over to a run-off company is a technical decision.”
“It is up to our customers, our operation, our employees and the supervision authorities,” he said. “They all have different views. We listen to all sides.”
$1 = 0.8456 euros Reporting by Tom Sims; editing by Jason Neely