NN Group could pursue M&A on pattern of MetLife deal — but bullish on organic growth

Dutch insurer  NN Group will jump on M&A opportunities if the fit to current operations looks right above and beyond price metrics, but is building its targets chiefly on plans for organic growth, chief executive officer David Knibbe (pictured) told participants in an Investor Day broadcast Thursday, November 25.

"When we look at M&A, we ask what value we can add, are we the right owner," Knibbe told analysts. "But the base case is really around organic growth."

The Dutch home market life segment won't likely present any opportunities, Knibbe noted in separate questioning. NN Group wouldn't need to move aggressively on any opportunities given NN's size on its home market, he said.

Comments follow word in July that NN Group would buy MetLife’s activities in Poland and Greece in a €584 million deal.

Knibbe still likes the MetLife deal for market conditions in Poland and the overlap to its existing business in Greece. Poland is a "large and growing market" currently undergoing notable consolidation, he said. MetLife’s Greek operations add scale and purchasing power in health lines.

The group’s approach to those assets had been strategy first, the MetLife double-digit rates of return second, he claimed.

NN’s organic growth plans are for mid-single-digit growth in the preferred measure of operating capital generation (OCG), including a €1.5 billion target for 2023.

That growth will be led in the group's international insurance segment with operations chiefly in central and southern Europe plus a major spot on the Japan life segment. Those units will continue a press into protection products, officials vowed.

Those emerging European markets can capitalise on higher economic growth versus core European markets, opportunities to close relative coverage gaps and NN Group's multi-faceted distribution model, said Fabian Rupprecht, NN Group's chief for the region.

"We're clearly getting tailwinds from the right business, at the right place at the right time" Rupprecht concluded.

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