Insurance sector | Sampo completely buys the Danish company Topdanmark in a deal worth more than two billion euros

Insurance giant Sampo completely buys the Danish non-life insurer Topdanmark in a transaction worth more than two billion euros. Sampo already owns 49.5 percent of the company.

Sampo has been increasing its Topdanmark ownership gradually for about 15 years. The deal has therefore been speculated for years.

The owners of Topdanmark will receive Sampo shares and about a 27 percent premium compared to the companies’ stock market prices. Topdanmark’s market value was around 3.57 billion euros at Friday’s closing price, so the purchase price is more than two billion euros.

Topdanmark’s share value has fallen by 30 percent in two years. Instead, the value of Sampo’s share is more or less at the same level as two years ago.

For payment The owners of Topdanmark will be given Sampo’s newly issued shares. At the same time, Sampo plans to use a maximum of 800 million euros to buy its own shares off the market.

Sampo estimates that the merger will result in annual synergy benefits of approximately EUR 95 million. The intention is to keep Topdanmark’s head office in Denmark, but otherwise the operations will be combined with If, which is wholly owned by Sammo.

Topdanmark’s board of directors recommends acceptance of the offer to the shareholders, and the companies have signed a merger agreement. Sampo also says that he secured support for the offer in advance from some of Topdanmark’s largest owners.

“The unanimously recommended offer we announced today is the next logical step,” Sammo’s Group CEO Torbjörn Magnusson says in the announcement.

After the purchase of Topdanmark, the Sampo Group would have a market share of approximately 20 percent of the Nordic non-life insurance market. Sampo already fully owns the insurance company If and the British insurance company Hastings.