PARIS:

French cooperative insurer Covea Tuesday said it is seeking to diversify into reinsurance through the acquisition of companies in that business line.

 

“Developing such an activity like that takes decades, so external growth is the more plausible,” Covea’s Chief Executive Thierry Derez said Tuesday.

 

Unlisted Covea, which holds an 8.17 percent stake in French resinsurer SCOR, has said it didn’t plan to increase its stake in the reinsurer after a attempt to take the firm over went sour a few months ago.

 

Derez declined to comment whether it would divest from SCOR in the case his company would take over a rival reinsurer.