German insurance and reinsurance holding company Talanx International AG is to buy Poland-based insurer Warta from Belgian bancassurer KBC for €770m ($998m) in cash. Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen i Reasekuracji Warta SA is the second-largest insurer in Poland. The group also contains life operation Warta Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zycie SA. The deal is scheduled to close in Q2 2012. Japan-based assurer Meiji Yasuda will take 30% of the Warta holding from Talanx after the deal is completed. Only a couple of days ago it was leaked to the Polish press that KBC might postpone the sale of Warta because it was unable to negotiate a good enough price. Warta is the second-largest insurer in Poland after PZU. It had life premiums of €560m in 2010 and non-life premiums of €443m. Its non-life business is split between private and commercial business, with a strong local presence in marine and aviation. It employs 2,765 staff and has 8,000 tied and multi-tied agents. Distribution is through 4,000 agencies and about 240 Warta branch offices. Until last December Talanx had operated in Poland mainly through its HDI-Gerling operational subsidiary and its businesses HDI Asekuracja and HDI-Gerling Zycie. Last month it cooperated with Meiji Yasuda to buy Wroclaw-based TU Europa in a roughly $520m deal. Hannover-based Talanx had premium income of about €23bn in 2010, mainly through its reinsurance business Hannover Re and its primary operation HDI-Gerling. Talanx International AG had premium income of about €2.2bn in 2010 from business in 12 countries.