BERLIN (Reuters) -Helvetia and Baloise said on Tuesday that they plan to merge, creating Switzerland’s second-largest insurance group with a combined market share of about 20%.
Helvetia CEO Fabian Rupprecht will take the helm of the new firm and the exchange ratio will be 1.0119 Helvetia share for each Baloise share.
In addition to the companies’ existing cost improvement plans, the merger is expected to generate annual savings of around 350 million Swiss francs ($433 million) before taxes.
The new group, which will be called Helvetia Baloise, will have a combined business volume of 20 billion francs in eight countries.
Merger-related job reductions will be implemented before 2029 and whenever possible be achieved through natural attrition and early retirement, the companies said.
They anticipate closing the deal in the fourth quarter.
($1 = 0.8086 Swiss francs)
(Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
