Joint takeover completed of insurance company Compensa

Austrian insurance company Wiener Staditsche and German insurer HUK Coburg announced yesterday that they had taken joint control of Hamburg Mannheimer Ausland (HMA), the strategic shareholder in Polish insurance company Compensa. In addition, the Austrian-German consortium has purchased a further 9.8% stake in Compensa from HMA's parent company, Hamburg Mannheimer, thus creating for each partner a 49.6% representation at the General Shareholders' Meeting. The transaction price was not disclosed, but Compensa is in desperate need of funding after running up total losses of zl.150 million in 1999 and 2000. The company is currently undertaking a radical restructuring program that will see it concentrate on insuring small and medium-sized companies. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 25) M.T.