Munich Re's Ergo to Shed Foreign Businesses

Germany's second-largest insurer, Ergo is considering selling some foreign businesses as it exits markets with limited growth potential. Having suffered a loss of €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) last year, Ergo is rethinking its strategy whilst trying to restore earnings. Ergo management board member, Klaus Flemming said that company weakness lay in some of the smaller foreign units. He added that Ergo wants to hold at least five percent of any foreign market where it operates, a goal so far only achieved in Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Flemming also said that Ergo would be dependent upon purchases or alliances to expand in markets it does not plan to exit, such as Italy and Spain.