Munich Re eyes limited 2012 hit from Greek bond deal

MUNICH: The Greek bond swap will prompt only a limited hit to Munich Re's earnings this year, with the reinsurer seeing 2012 net profit more than tripling to 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion).

"Greek debt restructuring and bond exchange will at most lead to relatively low expenses in 2012," the world's biggest reinsurer said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that it took a total of 1.2 billion euros in writedowns on Greek government bonds last year.

Greece, the source of the currency bloc's debt crisis, swapped its privately held bonds at the weekend for new, longer maturity paper with less than half the nominal value, a move that cut its debts by more than 100 billion euros.

Munich Re also said it expected earnings to grow further in 2013. The company already released its headline financial results for 2011 on Feb. 2, including net profit and expected dividend.

Copyright Reuters, 2012