Australia's QBE Insurance Group Ltd. (QBE.AU) is close to acquiring the Argentine insurance arm of global banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC, HSBA.LN), local press said Tuesday.

The deal is part of a larger transaction worth nearly $1 billion that includes HSBC insurance assets in other countries, newspaper Clarin reported, citing unnamed sources at the bank.

Newspaper La Nacion also named QBE as the buyer of general insurance company HSBC La Buenos Aires Seguros SA, without saying how it obtained the information.

HSBC La Buenos Aires had 398.3 million pesos ($91.8 million) in net premiums during the first nine months of 2011, according to insurance regulator SSN.

Spokesmen for HSBC and QBE declined to comment on the matter.

In a statement Tuesday, QBE said it is in the "final stages of negotiations" of bolt-on acquisitions that it expects will generate annualized gross written premiums of about $500 million.

QBE, which operates in 49 countries, has grown through a steady string of acquisitions in Asia, the U.S. and Latin America in recent years. The Australian insurer reported gross written premiums of $18.3 billion in 2011.

Last year, HSBC said it would sell its global general-insurance operations as it seeks to slash costs and focus on its banking operations.

-By Ken Parks, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6740; ken.parks@dowjones.com

--Jessica Hodgson contributed to this article.

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