Compensa wants to insure its position with takeovers big and small

Compensa's owners - a consortium of German HUK Coburg and Austrian Wiener Staedtische, both insurance companies - expect to see the company grow quickly. "Our aim is to place the company among the top five insurance firms in Poland," said Helmut Zilk, head of Wiener Staedtische's supervisory board. Compensa is currently in negotiations with several companies it wants to take over, but its representatives were unwilling to state their names. Unofficial in formation has it that Compensa is finalizing talks aimed at taking over TunŻ Nationwide. The firm is also interested in acquiring a few minor players in the insurance market like Benefia, TunŻ Royal Polska, FinLife or TunŻ Sampo. According to the company's projections Compensa's property insurance d ivision is to collect zł.375 million in premiums in 2005, an increase of zł.45 million on 2004. (Parkiet, p. 7; Puls Biznesu, p. 6) D.W.