Anbang Acquiring Vivat: A One-Euro Deal

Anbang Insurance Group is a Chinese financial services conglomerate that has grown at an astonishing rate since its inception in 2004 mostly through acquisitions. From 2014 Anbang expanded its acquisition activities abroad buying up majority shares of European and North American firms in banking, insurance, and real estate. Among its purchases is the bankrupt Dutch insurance group VIVAT that Anbang acquired in 2015 and turned around within merely a year. This case uses Anbang’s acquisition and restructuring of VIVAT as an example to show the Chinese business giant’s internationalization strategy against the backdrop of a fast-growing Chinese financial sector and a troublesome European economy. It challenges students to evaluate Anbang’s acquisition of VIVAT from strategic point of view as well as come up with realistic options to integrate VIVAT and turn it around. Moreover, students are urged to look beyond the VIVAT case, take Anbang’s global acquisitions as a whole, and argue whether its fast growth strategy is sustainable.