UNIQA Group Austria intends to acquire a 100% shareholding in the Romanian property insurance company Unita VIENNA INSURANCE GROUP S.A. An agreement to this effect was reached with the previous owner, Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), on May 28, 2008 - the details will be settled by a share purchase contract which is still to be signed. The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant authorities and should be concluded until the end of September 2008. With a market share of approximately 6.5%, Unita is one of the biggest insurers in Romania. In 2007, the company's premium volume was EUR 142 million, its customers amounted to 550,000 and its employees to 850.

Konstantin Klien, CEO of UNIQA Group Austria: "With Unita we are massively enforcing UNIQA Group's position in our strategic target region of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Romania and its population of 22 million inhabitants counts among the biggest and fastest-growing markets in the CEE region. It holds high growth potential in insurance business which we can now increasingly use".

The transaction sees UNIQA becoming sole owner of the fourth-biggest Romanian property insurer, significantly strengthening its presence in the region. As the new owner of Unita, UNIQA will continue to place emphasis on close cooperation with the local Raiffeisenbank.

UNIQA has maintained a presence in Romania since 2005, through a minority shareholding in Astra Insurance – the country’s seventh-biggest insurance company. It is thus able to draw on several years’ experience of operating in the Romanian insurance market. UNIQA is currently in negotiations with Astra’s majority shareholders regarding a full takeover of the company.

Unita
Established in 1990, Unita now operates entirely in property insurance. Its head office is in Bucharest, and since 2001 it has been majority-owned by the Vienna Insurance Group. In 2007, Unita increased the premium revenues by 85%, to around EUR 142 million. Based on provisional figures for the 1st quarter 2008, Unita now ranks fifth amongst the insurance companies operating in Romania, with a market share of around 6.5%. On non-life insurance, Unita (which has not actively pursued life business since mid-May 2006) ranks fourth in the market. Reflecting the market conditions, its portfolio is dominated by the various vehicle segments. Sales operations are run via a comprehensive network of over 40 branches and more than 300 agencies, through around 260 brokers and leasing companies. In 2007, Unita was providing services to over 557,000 customers (which includes around 480,000 private customers), and employing around 850 staff.

The Romanian insurance market
With around 22 million citizens, Romania ranks amongst the three biggest markets in the CEE region, and it is one of the fastest-growing economic areas in the EU. Whilst its insurance sector has grown rapidly in recent years, with the total volume of premiums having grown sevenfold in nominal terms since 2001, it still offers exceptionally high potential by comparison with Western Europe or even other Eastern European countries. This is reflected in the statistics – insurance penetration (premiums in % of GDP) in 2007 was 1.8%, compared to 9.0% in Western Europe, 5.8 % in Austria and 2.7% in the entire CEE region. In 2007, the volume of premiums for the 37 insurance companies operating in Romania was EUR 2,191 million (+35%) - around 80% of which, as previously, came from non-life insurance.