Bulgarian regulator clears Acrisure's purchase of SDI Group

The notified transaction will not significantly affect competition on Bulgaria's insurance products distribution market, the Commission on Protection of Competition (CPC) said in a statement on Monday.

In November, the CPC said it is opening an in-depth review of the deal over concerns it may substantially weaken competition in the relevant local markets. However, despite creating horizontal overlap between the companies' activities, the transaction is not expected to lead to a dominant position.

The combined market share of Unilink and SDI Group in general insurance for 2022 stood at 15.61%, with the total market share of each of their main business lines not exceeding 40% following the deal.

The competitive landscape, with 342 active insurance brokers and a fragmented market structure, ensures market pressure on the acquiring group as Unilink depends on the behaviour of its main competitors, insurers and end users.

The transaction, through which the Polish group will acquire 100% of SDI Group's equity capital amounting to 196,500 levs ($108,235/100,468 euro), aims to develop Unilink's business, expand its portfolio and staff and bolster its position in the insurance distribution market.

SDI Group was Bulgaria's top insurance broker in 2022, with revenue from insurance premiums of 148.7 million levs, data published by the Financial Supervision Commission show.

Michigan-based Acrisure, founded in 2005, entered Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Moldova through the acquisition of Unilink Group last April.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)