QBE Swings to Deep Loss, Sells LatAm Operation for US$409 Million
February 25 2018 - 4:19PM
Dow Jones News
By David Winning
SYDNEY--QBE Insurance Ltd. (QBE.AU), swinging to a deep annual
loss as expected, said it has agreed to sell its Latin American
operations to Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN.EB) for US$409
million.
QBE said it expects to make a pretax profit of around US$100
million on the sale of the business, which includes operations in
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
The Australia-based insurer said it would keep doing business in
Puerto Rico to enable the servicing of claims from Hurricane Maria,
and this operation would now become part of its North American
division.
Details of the sale came as QBE separately announced a net loss
of US$1.25 billion for the year through December, swinging from a
net profit of US$844 million a year earlier. The result was
expected after QBE said it late January that it would absorb
several big charges tied its North American operation and the cost
of California wildfires and December storms in Australia.
QBE said on Monday that it would pay a final dividend of 4
Australian cents per security for a full-year payout of 26
Australian cents.
-Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 25, 2018 16:04 ET (21:04 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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