Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: Vienna Insurance Group

  • Vienna Insurance Group to pay EUR 830 million for CEE business of Aegon

    Vienna Insurance Group to pay EUR 830 million for CEE business of Aegon

    Vienna Insurance Group agreed with Aegon on 29 November 2020 to acquire Aegon’s insurance business in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Turkey.

    The purchase price amounts to EUR 830 million. The transaction is subject to the necessary regulatory and competition approvals.

    Closing of the transaction is expected to take place in the second half of 2021.

    VIG will take over Aegon’s non-life and life insurance companies as well as pension funds, asset management and service companies in these countries.

    With the acquisition of these companies, VIG is further expanding its leading market position in Central and Eastern Europe and moves up to the first rank in Hungary’s insurance market.

    In addition, VIG is extending its scope of activity in the pension fund business in this region and will also be active in the life business in Turkey for the first time.

    The premium volume of the insurance companies in the four countries amounted to the equivalent of approx. EUR 600 million in 2019, with a net profit of approx. EUR 50 million.

  • VIG to launch a completely digital insurance processes in Poland

    VIG to launch a completely digital insurance processes in Poland

    Vienna Insurance Group will introduce a motor insurance offer with fully digital distribution and claims settlement on the Polish market by the end of this year.

    The company has launched the ”Beesafe” start-up together with the Polish VIG company Compensa, which focuses on creating completely digital insurance processes and incorporating all digital customer touchpoints.

    Motor insurance policies that can be easily selected and concluded online form the basis.

    Moreover, the customer will have the opportunity to select additional services via the online platform.

    If the pilot project is successful, an expansion to other VIG countries is planned.

  • Apeiron Biologics, new financing round for the COVID-19 drug APN01

    Apeiron Biologics, new financing round for the COVID-19 drug APN01

    Apeiron Biologics AG will complete a capital increase to finance the further development of APN01 for the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients as well as the development of immuno-oncology projects.

    The Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) will lead the financing round and secures the private placement as an anchor investor, investment commitments from existing shareholders and new institutional and private international investors have been provided.

    In addition, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Vienna Business Agency (WAW), the Austrian promotional bank (AWS) and the Erste Bank have committed grant funding and guarantees.

    APN01 is one of the most advanced drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19 and one of the few therapy approaches specifically targeting the coronavirus, because it imitates the receptor ACE2 and thus offers a unique dual approach to treatment.

    Experts believe that accelerated market approval could be completed if the study shows positive results.

  • Vienna Insurance Group exceeds EUR 10 billion premium volume

    Vienna Insurance Group exceeds EUR 10 billion premium volume

    • Total premium volume increases to around EUR 10.4 billion (+7.7%)
    • Profit (before taxes) rises to around EUR 522 million (+7.4%)
    • Combined ratio clearly improved to 95.4% (-0.6 percentage points)
    • Earnings per share significantly higher at EUR 2.59 (+27%)
    • Dividend increase to EUR 1.15 per share proposed (+15%)

    A significant rise of 7.7% pushed total premiums written in 2019 above the EUR 10 billion threshold for the first time, to EUR 10,399.4 million. Without exception, all sectors recorded growth and contributed to the year-on-year increase in premiums of around EUR 742 million.

    The other property and casualty and comprehensive motor business dominated with respect to absolute premium growth. Health insurance recorded the largest percentage increase of around 12%.

    The non-life sector represents around 58% of the premium portfolio (motor third party liability, comprehensive motor, other property and casualty insurance), life insurance around 35% (regular premium, single premium products) and health insurance around 7%.

    The largest premium gains were recorded in the segments Poland (EUR +234.2 million), Baltic states (EUR +124.5 million), Austria (EUR +103.4 million), Remaining CEE (EUR +72.2 million) and Czech Republic (EUR +61.6 million).

    The Baltic States (+33.1%), Bulgaria (+30.7%), Poland (+26.1%) and Remaining CEE (+19.3%) segments stand out in terms of percentage premium growth. In the Remaining CEE segment, Ukraine (+58.2%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (+37.6%) and Serbia (+14.0%) recorded especially large premium growth.

    Profit (before taxes) around EUR 522 million

    In 2019, the target range for profit (before taxes) was EUR 500 to 520 million. At EUR 521.6 million, the profit (before taxes) was slightly above the target range and 7.4% higher than the result in the previous year. The increase in profit was due to a clear combined ratio improvement and, among other things, a significant increase in the profits contributed by Austria (EUR +37 million) and Poland (EUR +37 million).

    This was offset by a small decrease in the financial result, mainly due to a decrease in the contribution from the non-profit societies resulting from the deconsolidation starting 31 July 2019, and the entire goodwill impairment in the Romania segment in the amount of EUR 108.8 million (previous year EUR 50.1 million).

    In the course of the annual impairment test, the earnings expectations for Romania were further reduced due to the sustained difficult market situation.

    With the exception of Romania, all segments earned profits (before taxes). 53% of the profit (before taxes) was achieved in the CEE region.