Promutuel is ready to expand outside Quebec. The property and casualty insurer, which hopes to double in size within the next five to seven years, already has “a few lines in the water” in order to make an acquisition, confides its CEO, Geneviève Fortier.
Posted at 5:26 p.m.
Mme Fortier cannot identify the potential targets in question, as long as no transaction is concluded, but she affirms that the mutual conducts discussions in this regard. “We’ve been working on this strategy for a while now,” she said in an interview on Thursday, on the sidelines of the annual meeting. There are targets that interest us, but these targets must be available. We are in discussion. »
It specifies that the targeted acquisitions would be of medium size “and/or” of large size, therefore “several tens of millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions”.
Promutuel has set itself the objective of doubling its size within five to seven years. To do this, the insurer intends to penetrate the market in the rest of Canada, but also to grow within Quebec.
The greater Montreal area, where Promutuel is less present, is one of the targeted markets. “Our intention is to go there with specific customer niches. We are in the process of finalizing the choice of these niches. »
When will these niches be decided? “I think our competition is going to see that over the next few months or the next year,” she replies. We are going to manifest ourselves in a concrete way. »
Record results
Promutuel Assurance revealed earlier Thursday that it has doubled its profit in 2021 thanks to good investment returns and lower claims.
The mutual’s overall result reached 229 million in 2021, compared to 131 million in 2020. In its annual report, the insurer attributes its good performance to its investment income, which “almost doubled”, to a decrease in liabilities of pension plan and favorable weather conditions which reduced the loss rate.
Premiums written, for their part, are close to a billion dollars. They increased by 4.5% to 993 million.
Promutuel’s assets grew by 10% to reach 2.03 billion. The return on assets of its 632,000 insured members increased by 28%. Its solvency ratio reached 397%.
Auto insurance and home insurance continue to represent the majority of written premiums at 41% and 31%, respectively. Business insurance (21%) and agricultural insurance (7%) represent the other two segments of the mutual.
In 2021, Promutuel paid out 36 million in dividends to its members and the community.