ZURICH (Feb 17): Allianz played down talk of it making a major acquisition any time soon, as its chief executive Oliver Baete said on Friday that the German insurer could grow without deals. We are strong enough, we can do both," Baete told journalists, after Allianz posted a forecast-beating 23% rise in fourth-quarter net profit. However, Allianz said it would be relying on internal growth to meet 2018 targets and that any purchases would need to be accretive to shareholders. It said on Thursday it would no longer set aside 20% of net attributable income each year for external growth. Sources told Reuters in January that Allianz had roughly half a dozen possible takeover targets, including Australian insurer QBE and certain Generali businesses.

Source: The Edge Markets February 17, 2017 14:15 UTC