28.01.2020

Helvetia completes purchase in Spain

St.Gallen - Helvetia Insurance has acquired a majority stake in the Spanish insurance firm Caser. The acquisition is set to primarily strengthen the European business arm of the Swiss company’s non-life segment. Caser generates nearly two-thirds of its earnings in this area.

Helvetia has “reached an agreement with various shareholders with respect to the sale of their equity stakes”, according to a press release issued by the insurance group based in the St.GallenBodenseeArea. In total, Helvetia will invest around 780 million euros to acquire approximately 70 percent of the shares in the Spanish insurance firm Caser. The takeover should strengthen the non-life segment of Helvetia Insurance in particular.

“Our business in Spain has performed very well in recent years and will now be strengthened further by this transaction, which will also substantially increase the importance of our European activities”, comments Philipp Gmür, Group CEO of Helvetia, in the press release, before adding that: “Caser will also immediately make a significant profit contribution”.

In financial year 2018, Caser generated a profit of 87 million euros, Helvetia states in the press release. The Spanish firm records nearly two-thirds of its earnings in the non-life business area. An additional 9 percent is generated via fee-based income in the areas of health care and geriatric care. “Among other things, Caser operates nursing homes and hospitals, which offer growth opportunities given demographic developments”, the press release explains. The majority shareholding in Caser will therefore also offer Helvetia “the opportunity to tap into new business models and thus further diversify its business”.