Uniqa entrenches its position in Albanian insurance market

Austrian insurer Uniqa is to acquire a 46 percent stake in
Albanian composite insurer Sigal for an undisclosed consideration.
The purchase cements a co-operation agreement entered into between
the two insurers in March 2007 that included an option for Uniqa to
acquire a majority stake in Sigal in 2010.

Explaining the reason for the decision to purchase a stake in
Sigal prior to 2010, Uniqa CEO Konstantin Klien said: “The positive
experiences we had in the past months of close co-operation with
Sigal have moved us to skip a step in our staged plan for acquiring
a majority of the company.”

Founded in 1999 as one of Albania’s first private insurance
companies, Sigal is by far the largest of Albania’s ten insurers,
holding a 28 percent share of the total market. Sigal also has
subsidiaries and representations in Kosovo and Macedonia.

As part of the agreement with Sigal, Uniqa is assisting in the
areas of product development, in particular in life and health
insurances, and in training and marketing. According to Uniqa, the
first jointly developed life and health insurance products have
been launched.

The agreement also brought with it Uniqa’s preferred bancassurance
partnership with Austrian banking group Raiffeisen. The latter’s
unit in Albania is the largest in the country, with more than 60
percent of total retail deposits and the largest branch
network.

In 2006 Sigal reported premium income of €19.2 million ($28
million), an increase of 20 percent compared with 2006 and well
above the national average of 11 percent. According to Uniqa,
Sigal’s premium income was up 25 percent in the first three
quarters of 2007 compared with the corresponding period in
2006.