The Board of Directors approves the planned merger of Caser, Helvetia Seguros and Helvetia Holding Suizo

Media release
St.Gallen, 16 May 2025
 

The Board of Directors of Helvetia Group has approved the planned merger of Caser with Helvetia Seguros and Helvetia Holding Suizo. Caser will remain as an absorbing unit. This decision marks a further step in the merger process. The planned merger to form the new entity and secure a Top 10 position in the Spanish market must still be approved by the respective general meetings and supervisory authorities.

At the Capital Markets Day in December 2024, Helvetia outlined its strategic decision to merge its Spanish units. This step is designed to unlock synergies and further strengthen its customer offering. With the approval of the Board of Directors of Helvetia Group, a further step in the implementation of the strategy in Spain has been achieved. The following further process steps are now pending:

By the end of June 2025, the shareholders will vote on the merger at the General Meetings of the companies. This will be followed by a review by the relevant authorities.

As soon as the individual steps have been completed and the necessary approvals have been obtained, Helvetia Group will continue to be the majority shareholder of Caser with more than 85% of the shares. As strategic partners, Unicaja and Ibercaja will continue to hold a stake of around 7% each in the new entity.

On track - with responsibility and vision
The preparations are proceeding according to plan and in a constructive dialogue between all those involved. The foundations for the merger are excellent in terms of content, organisation and culture. Helvetia is confident that it will be able to successfully complete the merger of the legal entities on 1 January 2026 and sees this as a significant opportunity to move into the future stronger together.

The planned merger will create a new company with over 2.5 million customers and more than 7,000 employees.

"This merger is an investment in stability, growth and sustainable value creation. Together, we are creating a company that will meet the challenges of the market with innovative power and economic strength - for the benefit of everyone associated with us," says Juan Estallo, CEO of the Spanish segment.

About the Helvetia Group
Helvetia Insurance Group, with its headquarters in St. Gallen, has grown since 1858 to become a successful international insurance group with strong Swiss roots, over 14,000 employees (FTE) and more than 6.7 million customers. It has always been there for its customers when it matters.
In the Swiss, Spain and GIAM (German, Italian and Austrian Markets) segments, Helvetia positions itself as a Local Customer Champion and supports its customers throughout their lives as their preferred provider. It also focuses on the rapidly growing segment of customers over 50. In all of its segments, and in the Specialty Markets segment in particular, Helvetia strives to generate growth as a global specialist in the international specialty lines business and in reinsurance. Thanks to its lean and flexible structures, Helvetia is able to focus on profitability in a cyclical business. At the same time, Helvetia uses its expertise in its European retail markets to offer specialty solutions to SME customers.
With a business volume of CHF 11.6 billion, Helvetia generated underlying earnings of CHF 528.5 million and an IFRS period result of CHF 502.4 million in the 2024 financial year. The shares of Helvetia Holding AG are traded on SIX Swiss Exchange.

Cautionary note
This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. The German version of this document is decisive and binding. Versions of the document in other languages are made available purely for information purposes. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.
This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies. We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.