20 March 2003
Press Release
Munich Re and Allianz to reduce their reciprocal shareholdings further
Munich Reinsurance Company and Allianz AG will reduce their reciprocal shareholdings
to around 15%. The existing long-term partnership between the two groups is
to be continued on this basis.
Munich Re intends to reduce its shareholding by performing an "opération
blanche" in the capital increase announced by Allianz today. An "opération
blanche" involves the shareholder taking part in a capital increase, but
only to the extent that no new funds are invested. Dr. Heiner Hasford, member
of Munich Re's Board of Management: "We will maintain our investment in
Allianz at the current level in value terms, thus supporting the capital increase."
Allianz will also reduce its stake in Munich Re accordingly. For this purpose
it will redeem its "MILES" bonds issued in 2000 by exchanging them
for Munich Re shares, which will result in its stake in Munich Re decreasing
from around 22% (end of 2002) to a level of between 16% and 18% before the
end of this year.
The effect of reducing shareholdings on both sides will be that the respective
participations are no longer valued at equity; consequently, Munich Re will
in future book the dividend of Allianz instead of the proportional result for
the year in its income statement. Furthermore, the groups' free floats and
thus the weightings of their shares in stock market indices will increase.
Munich Re is not planning any capital increase at this time. Rather, it shortly
intends to strengthen its capital base through the issue of subordinated bonds.
The specific features of this so-called "hybrid capital" mean that
it is recognised by markets, supervisory authorities and rating agencies as
equity capital. Through this issue Munich Re can target new groups of investors
outside the stock market worldwide and further strengthen its position on the
international reinsurance markets in the present upward phase.
Note for editorial departments:
As announced, Munich Re will be publishing its main figures for the business
year 2002 on 27 March; additional information on the bond issue will also
be provided on this occasion. Owing to the expected media interest, we
are planning to hold a telephone conference. We will let you know the technical
details of this (time, telephone number, etc.) sufficiently well in advance.
In case of enquiries, please contact Rainer Küppers on
+49 (0)
89 38 91-25 04.
Munich, 20 March 2003
Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft
signed Dr. Hasford signed Küppers