At the end of November 2019, the General Meeting of Shareholders of ATOS Osiguranje passed the decision to merge with GRAWE osiguranje ad Banja Luka, the Republika Srpska branch of the Austrian insurance group, Indikator.ba reports.

ATOS Osiguranje will be absorbed by GRAWE and will cease to exist, the cited source mentioned. The consolidation of both companies received the approval of the Council of Competition, which stated that the merger will not lead to a concentration within the market that exceeds the limits set in the Law on Competition.

As a result of the merger, GRAWE will raise its capital through the issue of shares amounting BAM 5.6 million. GRAWE share capital will reach BAM 13.6 million after the increase. The share capital will be distributed through 13,600 ordinary shares.

Background

GRAWE entered the Bosnian insurance market in 1998 (1998 - Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina / 2001 - Republika Srpska). In September 2018, GRAWE successfully purchased ATOS Osiguranje, the former "Bobar osiguranje", becoming the owner of 99.62% shares in the company in the exchange of BAM 23 million.

At the end of the first half of 2019 GRAWE BiH was the leader of the life sector out of a total of 10 life insurance companies. GRAWE BiH held a total market share of 29.7% (by combining GRAWE FBiH 18.4% and GRAWE RS 11.3% together) for a volume of gross premiums written amounting BAM 22.7 million (~ EUR 11.6 million). Per political divisions, GRAWE was the 3^rd life insurer in FBiH and the first life insurer in RS.

For the same period, in non-life sector, out of 27 non-life companies, GRAWE FBiH ranked 10^th with a market share of 4.4% and a GWP volume of BAM 13.3 million (~ EUR 6.8 million), while GRAWE RS was absent from this sector. ATOS RS, non-life specialized, ranked 15^th, with a market share of 3.9% and a GWP volume of BAM 8.3 million (~ EUR 4.2 million).
Sources: Indikator.ba, XPRIMM Insurance Report 1H2019