Generali Plans Expansion

April 20, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Italy's biggest insurer Generali plans to create a Europe-based asset management company focusing on life pension funds.

Though the location of the company’s headquarters has not been decided, but the group intends to sell products in France and Spain, before moving onto the Austrian market.

The group also plans to have a presence in Asia, where it is currently negotiating with an industrial company in China with the intention of establishing a joint venture in life insurance and asset management. In addition, the company will pursue local partnerships in the Philippines.

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Generali also aims to expand their present to Eastern Europe where its short-term go is to reach 2% of the Polish market.

The company is also evaluating an asset management company in the US in a bid to gain a foothold in the world?s largest market.

PWC Predicts 200 Public Bankruptcies in 2002

March 8, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The number of corporate bankruptcies is slowly edging down, but is still stubbornly clinging to levels high above the historical averages, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC).

According to a new report from PWC, the 200 public company bankruptcies expected in 2002, though below last year’s level of 257 firms with $256 in assets, still towers over the annual average between 1986 and 2000 of 113 such filings.

In the private sector, bankruptcy filings are expected to rise to 10,800 this year from 9,928 in 2001- the highest in seven years, according to the accounting firm.

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The report predicts that companies in the telecommunications, auto, steel, computer hardware, chemical, and retail sectors will be particularly hard hit in 2002.

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