(Bloomberg) — Private-equity investors are expected to buy European insurance assets in 2015 as more companies sell non-essential businesses, according to a Towers Watson report.

About 82 percent of the 264 executives surveyed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa predict private equity to be among the top three groups of acquirers, lured by insurers’ ability to generate cash and a spate of initial public offerings, the report said. Forty-two percent said private equity is the most important source of capital.

Private-equity investment “is already at its highest level for nine years,” said Fergal O’Shea, EMEA lifeinsurance M&A leader for Towers Watson based in Dublin. Insurers seeking consolidation, low interest rates, cash generation and a revival of IPOs “should heighten the appeal of assets,” he said.

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