Significant events after the reporting date
Acquisition of AXA companies in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
On 7 February 2020, UNIQA signed a purchase agreement with the AXA Group for the acquisition of shares in the AXA subsidiaries and branches in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The purchase price is around €1 billion. The objects of purchase are life and non-life insurance companies, including their branches, as well as securities companies, pension funds and service companies of the AXA Group in the aforementioned countries. With the expansion in the growth region of Central and Eastern Europe, around five million customers are changing to UNIQA. The completion of the transaction is subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.
Merger of UNIQA Austria and UNIQA International
On 19 February 2020, the Management Board and Supervisory Board of UNIQA Insurance Group AG decided to merge UNIQA International AG as the assigning company with UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG as the receiving company in the course of 2020, subject to obtaining all regulatory approvals. UNIQA Insurance Group AG will continue to exist as a holding company. However, it will transfer other functions and its holdings in certain service companies – in particular, all internal Group services – to UNIQA Österreich Versicherungen AG. Furthermore, the plan is for UNIQA Insurance Group AG to transfer the reinsurance business within the Group and surrender its reinsurance licence. This agreed restructuring will not only streamline the Group and its management structure, it will also result in more efficient Group management and strengthen the customer-oriented organisation.
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Starting in early 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread throughout Europe. Analyses have shown that for UNIQA, as an insurer in the potentially affected segments health insurance, life insurance and business interruption insurance, no significant effects are to be expected with regard to insurance benefits at this time. The overall economic effects of the spread of the coronavirus are still uncertain: in particular, developments in the capital markets are not yet foreseeable, and the consequences for UNIQA cannot be therefore conclusively assessed at present.