Norway’s DNB and the Sparebank 1 consortium of banks have agreed to merge their insurance operations in a jointly owned company valued at 19.75 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.43 billion). The amalgamation of the insurance businesses will be achieved through the merger of DNB Forsikring with SpareBank 1 Skadeforsikring. The merged entity will have a virtually complete product portfolio in the field of risk insurance, catering to the retail market and the SMB market. DNB contributed 20 percent of the new unit’s assets and will buy a 15 percent stake from the other owners, with an option to purchase another 5 percent, potentially taking its stake to 40 percent. At the time of the merger, the new company will have a market share within non-life insurance of more than 15 per cent and will thus be Norway’s third largest non-life insurance company and the largest non-life insurance company distributing its products through banks. Completion of the deal, which depends on regulatory approval, is tentatively set for Jan. 1, 2019.