The Management and Supervisory Boards of UNIQA Versicherungen AG have authorized the sale of their participation in InterRisk Internationale Versicherungsholding GmbH (Vienna) to their current partner in this cooperation: Wiener Städtische Group.

When the UNIQA Group was founded last year, the participation of Bundesländer Versicherung (1/3) and Austria-Collegialität (1/6) in InterRisk  was jointly taken over by UNIQA Personenversicherung AG - a subsidiary of UNIQA Versicherungen AG, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. Since then, UNIQA Personenversicherung had owned half of InterRisk Internationale Versicherungsholding GmbH. This company, in turn, is 100% owner of InterRisk Versicherung AG in Wiesbaden/Germany, a non-life insurer with a total premium volume of DM 84 million/EUR 43 million/ATS 591 million. The former participation of InterRisk Internationale Versicherungsholding in Schweizer Freiburger Allgemeine Versicherung AG had already been sold in 1998.

New sales concept  
Since the foundation of InterRisk Internationale Versicherungsholding GmbH in 1978, UNIQA’s only partner in this cooperation was the Wiener Städtische Group. When the borders to the West and to the East opened, the concept of the early eighties, which foresaw a cooperation of both partners in all international activities, became redundant. In fact, each group has now developed its own strategy and the participation in Germany was the only remaining bond between these two big Austrian insurers. For future business in Germany, UNIQA will use its own sales networks.

Strategic new positioning
Selling its participation in InterRisk Internationale Versicherungsholding GmbH is another cornerstone in the strategic repositioning of UNIQA Group’s international activities.

With a total premium volume of ATS 30,200 million (EUR 2,190 million) and 6,500 employees, UNIQA is one of the leading insurance groups in Europe. UNIQA, which was created by merging Bundesländer-Versicherung and Austria-Collegialität, two traditional Austrian insurers, is a perfect model of a company with Austrian identity positioned to work in new European dimensions.