SAO PAULO--U.S-based insurance company ACE Ltd. (ACE) is in
exclusive talks to acquire Brazilian retail bank Itau Unibanco
Holding SA's (ITUB, ITUB3.BR, ITBUB4.BR) high-risk insurance unit,
local newspaper Valor Economico reported Wednesday.
The unit is valued at around 1.5 billion Brazilian reais ($681
million), the newspaper quoted an unnamed person close to the talks
as saying.
Earlier this week, Itau Unibanco said it was in advanced talks
to sell the unit but didn't disclose the name of the company
interested.
ACE press officials couldn't be immediately reached for comment
by The Wall Street Journal and a spokesman for Itau declined to
comment.
Along with ACE, others international insurance companies, such
as France's AXA SA (AXAHY, CS.FR) and Germany's HDI-Gerling, were
interested in the unit, the report said.
The operation up for sale is a very small business for Itau,
representing less than 1% of the bank's results.
Itau will keep its retail and personal-insurance units. The
division offers policies for infrastructure projects, mainly in the
oil-and-gas industry. One of its main clients is state-run oil
company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR3.BR, PETR4.BR), or
Petrobras.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com
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