The goal of the merger is to become one of the top 10 in the German insurance industry. The exams will begin soon.
The two insurance companies Gothaer and Barmenia want to merge. After intensive preliminary discussions, “due diligence” tests will begin shortly, both companies announced. In the future, the two companies will have equal voting rights in a joint parent company called Barmenia Gothaer Finanzholding AG.
The holding company will be based in the cathedral city. The actual insurance companies remain where they are: Gothaer, which has around 5,000 employees across Germany, in Cologne and Barmenia, with its 2,200 permanent employees across Germany, in Wuppertal. There are also self-employed salespeople. After the merger, the permanent employees will receive an employment guarantee for three years.
Gothaer boss Oliver Schoeller said the company will significantly expand its competitive and market position and move into the top 10 in the German insurance industry. Barmenia has its particular strength in health insurance and Gothaer in the area of property insurance, for example household contents, buildings and liability insurance. “Gothaer is growing across all divisions, particularly in the corporate customer sector, while Barmenia is showing very dynamic development in the private customer business,” said Barmenia boss Andreas Eurich. Schoeller and Eurich are to take over the management of the new holding company in a dual leadership role.
Gothaer Versicherung was founded in 1820 in Gotha in what is now Thuringia. After the Second World War, the insurance company moved to Cologne because it could not continue its business in the Soviet occupation zone. Barmenia was founded in 1904 in Barmen, now a district of Wuppertal.
Source: Stern
