WARSAW – 30 November 2021 – Greenberg Traurig advised Allianz on the completion of the acquisition of Aviva’s operations in Poland and Lithuania for over EUR 2.5 billion. It is Allianz’s largest deal globally in a decade.
The transaction involves Aviva’s life and non-life insurance operations as well as its pension and asset management businesses. Allianz has also agreed to acquire a 51 percent stake in each of Aviva’s life and non-life bancassurance joint ventures with Santander Bank Polska. The transaction also includes Aviva’s operations in Lithuania.
“Congratulations to Allianz, our longstanding client, on the successful completion of this landmark transaction. This transaction has already set a new market benchmark for the CEE region. It precisely showcases why Greenberg Traurig is the go-to firm with respect to M&A transactions in the financial services sector in Poland. We are honored to be the current leading law firm with respect to the value of M&A transactions handled in Poland in the Merger Market ranking for 2021 – the trust of our clients allows us to handle projects of this magnitude,” said Lejb Fogelman, Senior Partner of the Warsaw office of Greenberg Traurig.
“We are delighted to have assisted our client Allianz in all stages of this major expansion in Poland and the implementation of its successful growth strategy in the CEE region. In the Polish market, Allianz becomes the fifth largest insurer and the second largest player in the life insurance segment in terms of gross written premiums,” added Partner Stephen Horvath.
Greenberg Traurig provided comprehensive legal advice with respect to the transaction.
The transaction was supervised by Senior Partner Lejb Fogelman who provided strategic advice to the client. Partner Stephen Horvath led the transaction team together with Partner Łukasz Pawlak and Local Partners Maciej Pietrzak and Michał Bobrzyński.
Closing of the transaction was coordinated by Associate Agata Iżyk and supported by Associate Maciej Jabłoński, Associate Dawid Malinowski and Senior Associate Joanna Kuc. Associates Michał Bałdowski, Adam Anduła and Maciej Jabłoński provided support in the process of obtaining approvals for the Transaction from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. Partner Robert Gago, Associate Filip Drgas, Associate Marta Kownacka and Senior Associate Anna Celejewska-Rajchert were responsible for competition law matters related to the transaction, including the clearance for the transaction from the European Commission. Partner Anna Hałas-Krawczyk, Senior Associate Natalia Wołkowycka, Associate Angelika Makar and Associate Marta Popławska were responsible for employment matters. The tax team included London Partner Graham Iversen who was supported by London Associate Kathryn Jones with respect to English tax law advice and Local Partner Maciej Kacymirow with respect to Polish tax advice. The team was supported by Of Counsel Prof. Adam Opalski.
Allianz’s in house legal team was led by Dr. Alexander Franz, Senior Legal Counsel, and Dr. Daniel Günther, Regional Head of Legal and Compliance for Central and Eastern Europe.
Greenberg Traurig, recognized as one of the leading law firms in Poland, was recently named 2021 “Law Firm of the Year in Poland” by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and was also awarded “Poland Firm of the Year” at the highly esteemed Euromoney Legal Media Group “Women in Business Law Awards 2021 Europe.” “MergerMarket” ranks the firm as the No. 1 firm with respect to the value of M&A transactions handled in Poland in Q3 2021, with the value exceeding 5 USD billion.
Greenberg Traurig LLP
Greenberg Traurig, LLP is a global, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2300 attorneys serving clients from 40 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
GREENBERG TRAURIG Nowakowska-Zimoch Wysokiński sp.k. was named the 2021 Poland Firm of the Year award at the highly esteemed Euromoney Legal Media Group “Women in Business Law Awards 2021 Europe” and the 2021, 2019, 2018 Law Firm of the Year in Poland by International Financial Law Review (IFLR). The Warsaw office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP provides legal services to clients in Central Europe and beyond and consists of approximately 100 lawyers. Team members are regularly recognized as leaders in numerous practice areas. Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, IFLR1000 and EMEA Legal 500 consistently rank them among the top tiers the areas of Corporate/M&A, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Private Equity, Tax, Banking and Finance, Project Finance, Energy, Dispute Resolution and TMT.
For more information, please visit www.gtlaw.com.