AXA’s German Division in Talks to Sell Austrian Operations
AXA Konzern AG (Germany), a subsidiary of the French insurance group, is in discussions to sell its business in Austria, AXA Konzern AG (Austria) to a group of shareholders of Vienna-based UNIQA Versicherungen AG. No financial details have been announced.
A bulletin from AXA’s Paris headquarters indicated that the “transaction is expected to be signed by both parties before year end, but will still be subject to approvals by the Supervisory Boards of AXA Konzern AG (Germany), regulators and relevant antitrust authorities in Austria and Hungary. All parties have agreed, for the time being, not to communicate on the consideration of this transaction.”
“The offer made to the AXA Group was considered attractive for both parties,” the announcement continued. “It fits with the Group objective to focus on businesses and countries where it can achieve superior return and attractive growth. It is also a good opportunity for the Austrian management and teams to partner up with the industry leader in Austria (UNIQA is number one in life insurance and number four in non-life insurance). ”
AXA Konzern AG (Austria) is a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Konzern AG (Germany), through AXA Versicherung AG, which holds 89.95 of the shares and AXA Lebensversicherung AG, which owns the remaining 10.05 percent. It employs 100 people and had approximately 360 million Euros of gross written premiums last year, with around a 2 percent market share.