Standard & Poor's (S&P) placed UNIQA Group on CreditWatch Positive after the Austrian insurer announcement of a possible merger between two of its branches.

In September S&P affirmed their 'A-' long-term issuer credit and financial strength ratings on UNIQA's operating holding company UNIQA Insurance Group AG.

Due to UNIQA's announcement on Nov. 19, 2019, that it is examining a potential merger of "UNIQA Insurance Group AG" with "UNIQA Osterreich Versicherungen AG" and "UNIQA International AG" Standard & Poor's announced to place UNIQA on CreditWatch positive. If the company receives shareholder and regulatory approval to merge the entities, S&P expects to upgrade UNIQA Insurance Group AG by one notch.

Main reasons:

• Standard & Poor's sees the potential to equalize the ratings on UNIQA Insurance Group AG with the ratings on the group's core operating subsidiary UNIQA Osterreich Versicherungen AG.
• Standard & Poor's expects that the merger would have only very limited operational impact on the group's balance sheet strength, while UNIQA would streamline its corporate structure and group governance process.