Until a few years ago, Allianz was an acquisition machine. In the 1980s and 1990s, the German group took control of AGF in France, RAS and Lloyd Adriatico in Italy, Fireman's Fund and Pimco in the US, and turned itself into Europe's biggest insurer.

But the problems it inherited from Fireman's Fund and AGF, compounded by the €24bn ($29bn) profit-diluting purchase of Dresdner Bank in 2001, seemed to take the edge off Allianz's appetite for deals.