Share Capital Subscription
Banco Comercial Portugues S.A.
30 November 2000
BCP subscribes share capital increase of Eureko in exchange for its
stake in Seguros e Pensoes Gere, SGPS, S.A.
Lisbon, 30 November 2000: Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) has announced today
the subscription of a share capital increase by Eureko BV, of which BCP is to
subscribe a total of 1,063.8 million Euro(1) in exchange for 38,084,196 shares
in Seguros e Pensoes Gere, SGPS, S.A. (Seguros e Pensoes), corresponding to
50.1% of the share capital of the latter. The investment made by BCP shall
be thus accounted for an amount equal to its former stake in Seguros e Pensoes.
This transaction is seen as an acquisition of joint control of Eureko BV by BCP
and Achmea, in accordance with the qualification made by the European Commission
which has approved this transaction in such precise terms under its competence
to sanction European concentrations. Following this subscription, BCP holds a
17% stake in Eureko. This step, pursuant to the approval by the Portuguese and
European regulators, is a natural sequence in the strategic initiative that BCP
Group, jointly with Achmea and Eureko, announced as at 3 July, 2000. BCP Group
and Achmea announced their agreement to merge the insurance interests of the
former and all activities of the latter with Eureko, construed as acquisition of
joint control of Eureko by Achmea and BCP, aiming to create a financial services
provider of European scale aspiring to become one of the ten largest insurance
groups in Europe and to obtain a public listing within two years.
'This transaction defines the beginning of an ambitious but firm path leading
BCP Group and its partners to strengthen their position in the European
financial system, with clear gains of scale and offering strong potential for
improving the efficiency and profitability of our operations' said Mr. Jardim
Goncalves, Chairman and CEO of BCP, adding 'We are fully confident that the very
high standards of service and performance of Seguros e Pensoes' businesses will
be maintained, and that its practices and processes will clearly benefit from
the Group's new presence in more challenging and sophisticated markets'.
(1) Subscription of 17,537,592 shares of par value 1Euro at the price of 60.66
Euro
Seguros e Pensoes Gere is the leader of the Portuguese insurance industry and
pension fund management business, with market shares of 35.4% in Life insurance,
23.9% in Non-Life and circa 25% in pension fund management. As at 30 September
2000, Seguros e Pensoes Gere reported insurance premiums of 1.5 billion Euro and
Net Profit of 89 million Euro.
Eureko has reported, on a proforma basis for the year 1999, total premium income
of 9.2 billion Euro, with 50% of its business in Life products, 12% in Health
and Accident, 23% in Motor Insurance, with other areas representing the
remaining 15%, ranking as the 14th largest European insurance group with
a presence in 6 countries. Eureko has recently announced the launching of
Eureko Global Asset Management (EGAM), the asset manager of Eureko, which will
start its activities in January 2001, with 78 billion Euro of assets under
management. Following its share capital increase, Eureko's Shareholder's Equity
will amount to 5.5 billion Euro.
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