The Competition Council has approved UNITA's taking-over by UNIQA
 The Competition Council has authorized Austrian's group UNIQA taking-over the insurance company UNITA.
The competition regulation authority has analyzed the economic concentration operation made by UNIQA through the Competition Law (no. 21/1996) and the Regulations about authorizing economic concentrations.
"The analysis has illustrated the fact that this operation has no effects upon creating or consolidating a dominant position on relevant markets. Therefore, although this economic concentration falls under the Competition Law's jurisdiction, there are no serious doubts about the operation's compatibility with a normal competitive environment. Consequently, the authority emitted a decision having no objection", as the Competition Council's report shows.
UNIQA's entire take-over of the local non-life insurer, UNITA, was announced in this year's spring, while the European Commission's approval came by the end of 1stH/2008. The transaction's value is somewhere between EUR 130 and 250 million, the company's representatives have stated without giving the exact amount.
UNITA closed the first half of the year having a business of RON 270.51 million, a 15.13% growth compared to the same period of the past year (RON 234.95 million). These performances placed the company on the fifth place on the local market, and on the fourth place on the non-life segment.
UNIQA Group Austria is one of the biggest and most dynamic insurance groups in Central Europe, UNIQA being named the most trustful insurance brand on the Austrian market, but also in most European countries.
In the last years the list of the countries in which it activates has been extended and presently includes Slovenia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, as well as Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo.
UNIQA registered in 2007 a gross written premiums volume of EUR 5.3 billion. In 2007 also, UNIQA Group had a profit of EUR 340 million, from which 33% was generated by companies outside Austria.
Author: Mihaela CIRCU
on 11.11.2008
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