An agreement envisaging the merger of AK Emeklilik A?, in which Sabanc? Holding subsidiary Aksigorta has a 99.4% stake, with the British insurance giant Aviva plc's Turkish company Aviva Hayat ve Emeklilik was signed by Sabanc? Holding Financial Services Group president Ak?n Kozano?lu and Aviva Europe president Tidjane Thiam.
Sabancı Holding Financial Services Group president Kozanoğlu: "We will apply the 2+2=5 formula to this partnership in keeping with the Sabancı Group's value creation philosophy."
Aviva Europe president Thiam: "We are creating a unique company in the life and pension market."
An agreement envisaging the merger of AK Emeklilik AŞ, in which Sabancı Holding subsidiary Aksigorta has a 99.4% stake, with the British insurance giant Aviva plc's Turkish company Aviva Hayat ve Emeklilik was signed by Sabancı Holding Financial Services Group president Akın Kozanoğlu and Aviva Europe president Tidjane Thiam.
With the conclusion of this agreement, by combining AK Emeklilik's unrivalled experience in bank insurance with Aviva Hayat ve Emeklilik's strength in direct sales, the foundations have been laid for Turkey's leading life and pension company.
The new company will on the one hand assume a position of leadership in the personal pension market with a personal pension fund size of US$572.5 million and a 25% market share, and on the other move into third place in life insurance with generated premiums of US$30.3 million and an 11% market share.
One of the key strategic components of the merger between AK Emeklilik and Aviva, whose aim is to secure market leadership in the pension sector and attain a stronger position in life insurance, is to complement the brand strengths of both groups with a multichannel distribution model. The target for 2012 is for total annual premiums and contributions to exceed US$1 billion and for a total fund size of US$4 billion to be achieved.
The new company's management has been structured to take account of the principle of equal partnership and joint management. Under the new structure, Meral Ak Egemen will serve as CEO and Carl Boehr as Member with special responsibility for integration. Around 2,000 people will be employed in the new company.
Following completion of the merger process, Aviva Plc will make a cash payment of US$100 million to Aksigorta. An agency agreement incorporated into the merger agreement envisages the sale of life and pension products to 5.9 million retail customers through Akbank's 687 branches.
Sabancı Holding Financial Services Group president Kozanoğlu said in a statement concerning the merger: "When we signed the accord agreement on 21 March, I summed up my assessment of the potential offered by the agreement with the formula 2+2=5. The new company, whose pillars are the mutually complementary attributes of both companies, will be a major force for growth and innovation in the sector in keeping with the Sabancı Group's value creation philosophy."
Aviva Europe president Thiam for his part said: "We are creating a unique company in the Turkish life and pension market. The resulting new company will be the leader in a market which is developing fast and possesses considerable potential for growth. The combination of Aviva's direct sales strength, AK Emeklilik's unrivalled experience in bank insurance, Akbank's retail network and the Sabancı Group's local market experience will serve as a solid base from which the company will be able to grow. This merger will also make a major contribution to Aviva's international bank insurance portfolio. Aviva, as well as being Europe's leading life and personal pension insurance products company, is also positioned as European banks' favoured business partner."
The merger process will be completed once official approval has been obtained. Akisgorta's non-life activities and Aviva's non-life business in Turkey fall under the scope of this agreement.
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For more information contact:
Aviva Hayat ve Emeklilik AS
Hanzade Aytaçli
Marketing Manager
Telephone: +90 216 633 33 33 (ext:1813)