17.11.2014 - Following the takeover of Nationale Suisse, Helvetia increased its share in Nationale Suisse to more than 98 percent and will now initiate the proceedings for declaring the remaining shares of Nationale Suisse invalid pursuant to Art. 33 SESTA. 
  • Media release (pdf)

On 8 August 2014, Helvetia Holding AG ("Helvetia") published a public purchase and exchange offer pursuant to Art. 22 ff of the Federal Act on Stock Exchanges and Securities Trading (SESTA) for all publicly held registered shares of Schweizerische National-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft AG.

As of the expiry of the extended deadline at 4:00 p.m. (CEST) on 9 October 2014, Helvetia held 96.29 percent of the voting rights and of the share capital of Nationale Suisse. From 23 October 2014, Helvetia purchased another

378'225 shares and thus now holds more than 98 percent of Nationale Suisse.

The legal requirements for declaring the Nationale Suisse shares that are still publicly held invalid are thus fulfilled, and Helvetia will initiate the procedure for the invalidity declaration according to Art. 33 SESTA. Moreover, Helvetia intends to delist the Nationale Suisse shares from SIX Swiss Exchange AG immediately after the invalidity declaration judgment becomes legally effective.

For further information please contact:

Analysts

Helvetia Group

Susanne Tengler

Director Investor Relations

Dufourstrasse 40

CH-9001 St. Gallen

Phone: +41 58 280 57 79

Fax: +41 58 280 55 89

susanne.tengler@helvetia.ch

www.helvetia.com

Media

Helvetia Group

Martin Nellen

Head Corporate Communications

and Brand Management

Dufourstrasse 40

CH-9001 St. Gallen

Phone: +41 58 280 56 88

Fax: +41 58 280 55 89

martin.nellen@helvetia.ch

www.helvetia.com

About the Helvetia Group

Over the past 150 years, the Helvetia Group has developed out of various Swiss and foreign insurance companies into a successful insurance group with a presence throughout Europe. Helvetia now has branches in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy and France. It also conducts some of its investment and financing operations via subsidiary and fund companies in Luxembourg and Jersey. The Group's head office is located in the Swiss town of St. Gallen. Helvetia offers life policies, insurance against loss and reinsurance. With around 5,200 employees, it provides services for more than 2.7 million customers. In the 2013 financial year, Helvetia generated net income of CHF 363.8 million on a business volume of CHF 7.5 billion. The registered shares of Helvetia Holding are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the code HELN.

About Nationale Suisse

Nationale Suisse is an innovative and international Swiss insurance group providing attractive risk and pension solutions in the non-life and life segments, as well as customized speciality lines products. Nationale Suisse has been part of the Helvetia Group since October 2014. The plan is to integrate Nationale Suisse fully into Helvetia. The consolidated gross premiums of Nationale Suisse came to CHF 1.5 billion in 2013. The head office of Swiss National Insurance Company Ltd is in Basel. The company's stock is listed on SIX Swiss Exchange (NATN). The stock will be delisted as part of the integration of Nationale Suisse into the Helvetia Group. On 30 June 2014, the Nationale Suisse Group employed 1,903 staff (full-time equivalents).

Cautionary note

This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies . We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.

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