The UNIQA Group has reached a fundamental agreement with the insurance group "Die Continentale" regarding the sale of the UNIQA shares in the German Mannheimer group. Pending the necessary approvals, "Die Continentale" will purchase the roughly 92% stake held by UNIQA in the publicly traded Mannheimer Group. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the price.

Wolfgang Kindl, CEO of UNIQA International AG, a holding company that controls the over 40 foreign subsidiaries of the UNIQA Group, justifies the coming sale of Mannheimer in large part based on the new strategic orientation for UNIQA established in mid-2011: "We see the greatest future growth potential in the markets of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. Already today, 20%t of our premium volume and over 54% of our customers come from this region, and these figures are on the rise. Over the medium term, we expect that the economies of these regions will grow considerably faster than those of Western Europe and the demand for insurance solutions will –as in all developing countries–increase at a rate exceeding economic growth. In order to further strengthen our strategic position in the region and continue to gain market share, we will increase our focus on Eastern Europe."

In the 3rd quarter of 2011, the UNIQA Group succeeded in increasing its recurring premiums by 4.9% to €4,080 million. The UNIQA companies in Eastern Europe were even able to achieve a 10.3% rise in recurring premiums, bringing the total to €826 million. This put the region’s growth rate at twice the Group’s average. UNIQA also succeeded in expanding its market share in 13 of 15 countries.

The Mannheimer group currently consists of the parent company Mannheimer AG Holding and three operational insurance subsidiaries: Mannheimer Versicherung AG (property insurance), Mannheimer Krankenversicherung AG (abbreviated MKV, health insurance) and mamax Lebensversicherung AG (life insurance). In total, the group employs roughly 840 employees and manages approximately 835,000 insurance policies. The group’s premium volume written reached €411.9 million in 2010.

Wolfgang Kindl: "As part of a capital increase in 2004, we purchased a majority share in Mannheimer in order to secure our existing investment, which was a 20% stake in the company. At the time, Mannheimer had an urgent need for capital in order to settle old debts. From our perspective, the rehabilitation of the essentially healthy Mannheimer Group was only possible through the support of a strong majority shareholder. As the largest single shareholder at the time, UNIQA therefore brought in the necessary capital to secure the continued existence of the group and allow Mannheimer to continue developing positively. Even in hindsight, this step was a correct decision for the Mannheimer Group and for UNIQA from both strategic and financial perspectives."

Reservations concerning statements about the future
This message contains statements that refer to future developments in the UNIQA Group Austria. These statements are appraisals that are made based on all information available to us at the current point in time. If the assumptions on which they are based do not occur, the actual events may vary from the results currently expected. For this reason, we cannot accept liability for these statements.