Austrians eyeing Grup As

The largest Austrian insurance company Wiener Staedtische is in talks for the takeover of Grup As, the sixth-largest Romanian insurance company as for the premiums cashed in 2000 on the non-life insurance market.

“The representatives of Wiener Staedtische visited the Insurance Overseeing Commission (CSA) and requested financial data about Grup As,” CSA chairman Nicolae Crisan told Ziarul Financiar, confirming the rumours having spread on the market for several months.

The management of Grup As, which had earlier announced it was in talks with a foreign company, declined any comment on this issue.

Wiener Staedtische last year purchased a 51% stake in another Romanian insurance company, Unita, by a share capital increase worth 4.5 million Deutsche marks.

Grup As in 2000 registered 225 billion ROL in premiums and a market share of 3.9% on the non-life insurance market, against 1.9% in 1999 and 0.4% in 1998.

The company’s fast growth pace was due to the third-party auto liability (RCA), auto liability insurance (casco) and Green Card (valid abroad).

Provided the transaction is concluded, the company would change the shareholding structure for the third time this year.

Earlier this spring, the company’s founder Dumitru Solomon waived control on his stake in ice cream producer Geld SA, which was actually a “vehicle” used to hand over the bulk of shares to the management team and employees this summer.

Grup As has been recently excluded from the group of companies authorised to issue Green Card, following some payment delays to the Green Card Bureau in Hungary.

As the company has not been granted the right to sell RCA policies for 2002, a capital flow from the Austrian company would come at the right time.