Sweden's Nordea Bank to buy Norwegian insurer Gjensidige for $673 million

(Reuters) - Sweden's Nordea Bank AB said on Monday it would buy Gjensidige Forsikring, Norway's biggest insurer, for about 5.5 billion crowns ($673 million) in cash to expand in the Norwegian market.

Nordea expects to deliver annualised cost synergies of about 25 million euros (22 million pounds) from the combined company's cost base by 2022, Nordea Bank said.

The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, will have a positive impact on Nordea's earnings per share from the first year, it said.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)