SCOR acquires a majority stake in AgroBrasil

Global reinsurer SCOR has acquired control of AgroBrasil Administração e Participações (AgroBrasil), a family-owned managing general agent distributing fruit and grain loss of crop quality and yield insurance protection to Brazilian farmers.

This transaction marks an important milestone in SCOR’s specialty insurance strategy: as part of its “Quantum Leap” strategic plan, SCOR committed to developing a 360° P&C risk-taking platform, providing access to profitable growth opportunities and reinforcing technical risk expertise through proximity to both risks and clients.

The AgroBrasil acquisition secures access to a growing and profitable market for SCOR’s P&C reinsurance and specialty insurance activities and strengthens SCOR’s expertise in agriculture, ultimately enabling greater knowledge-sharing, better client-servicing and additional business opportunities across SCOR’s P&C global platform.

SCOR has been a long-standing re/insurance player in the Brazilian agriculture market. AgroBrasil is a recognised expert with an unrivalled access to growers, backed by a unique network of expert agronomists and a proprietary digital platform.

SCOR has partnered with AgroBrasil for 15 years, initially as a reinsurer, and since 2013 as an insurer through its Brazilian insurance company, ESSOR Seguros, fully owned since 2018.

AgroBrasil’s operations will continue unchanged, keeping its successful team intact but with support from the SCOR Group to grow business development initiatives and to further invest in the technology needed to support its current business operations, profitable growth and the development of new products. Laura Neves will remain CEO of AgroBrasil and (subject to regulatory approvals) will join the ESSOR Board.

Laurent Rousseau, deputy chief executive officer of SCOR Global P&C, and CEO of the Specialty Insurance business, said: “Through this acquisition, SCOR is further building its specialty insurance franchise and MGA platform. SCOR will also strengthen its expertise in agriculture insurance, a highly complex specialty: being at the forefront of technical risk-knowledge and fostering product innovation for the benefit of our clients around the world is an integral part of our DNA.”

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Laura Neves, chief executive officer of AgroBrasil, added: “The full backing of AgroBrasil by a global Tier 1 reinsurer will strengthen our unique positioning in the Brazilian market, allow us to broaden our market offering and deepen our infrastructure. Our people have known each other for a very long time, and I am looking forward to joining the SCOR team.”