Israel's Clal Insurance In Talks With German Allianz

An Israeli newspaper report suggests that Israel's Clal Insurance Enterprise Holdings Ltd. is in negotiations with German insurer Allianz AG. The Tel Aviv newspaper Maariv suggests that 25 percent of Clal maybe up for sale.

Clal expanded rapidly during 1992 acquiring the whole of the Zur-Shamir Insurance portfolio and half of the Life and specific General Insurance branches of the Hassneh Insurance portfolio. Last year, Clal Insurance managing director Avigdor Kaplan said the company was seeking an overseas strategic partner.

According to the newspaper, Allianz officials were in Israel recently to carry out an in-depth evaluation of Clal. The paper said that the entire company would be valued at $500 million, well above Clal's current market value of $345 million.

Clal and Allianz declined to comment on the report.