Switzerland's largest insurance company Swiss Life has sold its private banking business Banca del Gottardo to Italian financial services group Generali.

Swiss Life made SFr600 million ($585 million) in profit after tax from the SFr1.875 billion deal with Generali's banking unit BSI, after it concluded the sale on March 7, the company announced on Monday.

The deal consists of the purchase price of SFr1.775 billion and the bank's dividend of SFr100 million for 2007. The final sale price could still be adjusted depending on the year-end total of assets under management and equity capital.
Lugano-based BSI and Gottardo will now merge, forming one of the leading Swiss private banking institutions with SFr100 billion in assets under management.
The sale follows Swiss Life's rapid recovery from an all-time low in 2002 after a crisis in the financial markets and a series of uncertain acquisitions.

Swiss Life is active in 60 countries and employs some 8,700 people, half of them in Switzerland.

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