KBC Insurance and Kredyt Bank set to sell Agropolisa

Agriculture insurance company Agropolisa, controlled by Belgian KBC Insurance and Polish Kredyt Bank (KB), will soon change hands and leave the group. KBC and Kredyt Bank, with 49.9% and 34.12% stakes respectively in the insurer, have begun preparations for selling off their shares. The fate of Agropolisa had been uncertain after Kredyt Bank revealed last spring it would dispose of Agropolisa's sister-company Heros-Life. The situation became even more tense when KBC, strategic investor in KB and Agropolisa, purchased 30% of Warta insurance company. At that time, however, Kredyt Bank head Stanislaw Pacuk denied the bank was thinking of selling Agropolisa. In December, KBC head Luc Flamee said there were plans to merge Agropolisa with Warta and in case of failure it would most probably withdraw from the former. Now analysts reject the possibility of such a merger, saying it would be costly and unfavorable to Warta, which already offers insurance policies to farmers. Agropolisa offers voluntary and mandatory insurance in the agricultural sector. In the first three quarters of 2000 it collected zl 61 million in premiums (0.6% of the entire market). (Puls Biznesu, p.5) J.K.