Occidente insurance company bids farewell to more than a century of stock market presence

The stock market loses a heavyweight in the insurance sector this Monday. Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO), which operates in the insurance sector under the Occidente brand, ceases trading on the stock market this Monday, ending a stock market history that dates back to 1878, and later to the continuous market since 1997. The move comes after the takeover bid launched by Inocsa. a company that was the main shareholder, controlled by the Serra familyThe company, headquartered in Madrid since 2017, coinciding with the October 1st independence referendum, has now become a fully private group with the Serra family as its main shareholders. It is the first insurance group independent of financial conglomerates in the Spanish market, with annual sales of approximately €6 billion. Its president, Josep Maria Serra Farré, is one of Catalonia's wealthiest individuals. It represents a family that controlled more than 60% of the group through Inocsa and will now own 100%.The group, in addition to Occidente, controls the credit insurance giant Atradius, as well as Mémora, Spain's leading funeral operator. Currently, Hugo Serra Calderón, son of Josep Maria, manages the group as vice president and CEO. He represents one of the three family branches: the Serra Calderóns (children of Josep Maria Serra Farré), the Enrich Serras, and the Halpern Serras, represented by Assumpta and Josefa Serra Farré, respectively, the other daughters of the group's founder, Jesús Serra Santamans. There is another branch, that of Jesús Serra Farré, which separated from the insurance group in 2009 and owns the Baqueira-Beret ski resort and its hotels. The family controls most of the insurance group's capital through the companies Sociedad de Gestión y Participaciones SL, Inocsa, and La Previsión 96. Acquisitions and Mergers

The company, which unified its insurance brands – Catalana Occidente, Plus Ultra, Seguros Bilbao, and Nortehispana – under the Occidente umbrella starting in 2024, has a value of over €5.4 billion. In the first nine months of 2025, it earned €688.7 million, with a turnover of €5.9977 billion. With origins dating back 160 years, the group, which also owns Crédito y Caución, has grown through acquisitions and mergers. In 1999, it acquired MNA (Multinacional Aseguradora, the subsidiary of the now-defunct Caixa Catalunya); in 2001, it launched a takeover bid to acquire Lepanto; in 2004, it acquired Seguros Bilbao; in 2010, it completed the takeover of the company; and in 2012, it acquired the Spanish subsidiary of the French company Groupama and revived its brand: Plus Ultra. The following year it acquired Previsora ​​Bilbaína; in 2019, Antares, which allowed it to make a significant leap into the health insurance sector; and in 2023 it bought Mémora, one of the leading funeral companies in the Spanish market.

In addition to the Serra family, the board of directors There are other famous names, such as Álvaro Juncadella de Pallejà, from a family that owned now-defunct textile firms such as Industrias Burés or Coma Cros; or Beatriz Molins (of the family cement company of the same name).

In 1878 it debuted in the market of corrosOn the Stock Exchange, the Catalan Fire Insurance Company with Fixed Premiums, known as La Catalana, was founded in 1864. In 1959, Occidente, founded in 1903 and acquired in 1948 by Jesús Serra Santamans and a group of industrialists, took over La Catalana. This is where what later became Catalana Occidente was born, incorporating the emblematic building at Passeig de Gràcia number 2 in Barcelona, ​​built in 1890 and which La Catalana had bought in 1922, as well as a stake in Crédito y Caución.