Zurich acquires Real Garant Versicherung AG in Germany

Zurich.– Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) today announced that its subsidiary Zürich Beteiligungs-AG (Deutschland) has signed an agreement to acquire car warranty insurer Real Garant Versicherung AG (Real Garant). Under the agreement, Zurich will buy Real Garant from ADAC-Schutzbrief Versicherungs-AG with retroactive effect as of January 1, 2007. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Subject to the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities, the transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter 2007. The German financial supervisory authority BaFin has already given its approval.

Real Garant is one of the leading providers of car warranty insurance in Germany with a market share of about 20% and a premium volume of EUR 45 million in 2006. The premium volume of this market segment in Germany is about EUR 225 million. Real Garant, headquartered near Stuttgart, offers warranty insurance coverage for new and second hand cars. It has 76 employees and its policies are mainly distributed through a network of approximately 4.000 car dealers. Besides its major market Germany, Real Garant is also present in Belgium, Austria and Spain.

Annette Court, Zurich’s CEO Europe General Insurance, said: „In line with our profitable growth strategy this acquisition expands our market presence in motor insurance and ideally complements our product range in an attractive specialty market. Combining Real Garant’s successful business model with our established The Zurich Way best-practice approaches will allow us to progressively expand into other markets and thus better serve our car insurance customers throughout Europe.“