Wells, who left Prudential earlier this year, oversaw two demergers at the company during his seven-year tenure.

Athora also appointed Michele Bareggi to the newly created roles of president and deputy CEO, it said in a statement.

The Europe-focused specialized life insurance group has 79 billion euros ($79.51 billion) of assets under administration.

It bought the Belgian operations of insurer Generali in 2018, Dutch insurer Vivat in 2019 and Italy's Amissima Vita last year.

($1 = 0.9935 euros)

(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)