(Reuters) - Italy top insurer Generali will invest 1 billion euros (£863 million) in the first fund of a new asset manager, the company said on Thursday.
Europe's No 3 insurer will hold a majority stake of ThreeSixty Investments in partnership with a team of professionals led by Giordano Lombardo, former CEO of Pioneer Investments.
The news was earlier reported by Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
Last month, the insurer said it was ready to look around for growth opportunities in Europe, Asia and the United States, and added that it was well-positioned to achieve the targets it set in November for the years until 2021.
Generali has earmarked up to 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) for acquisitions and growth as it looks to asset management and other higher margin businesses to fuel earnings.
(Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
