Corporate | 10 May 2002 08:10

Allianz AG english

Allianz AG: Compensation for Minority Shareholders in HERMES Kreditversicherungs Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Compensation for Minority Shareholders in HERMES Kreditversicherungs-AG – Set-up of EULER & HERMES S.A. As announced in February 2002, Allianz will pay minority shareholders in HERMES Kreditversicherungs-AG 355 euros per share as compensation for transfer of their shares to Allianz. The resolution to exclude minority shareholders is scheduled to be submitted to the Annual General Meeting of HERMES on June 27, 2002. Allianz holds 99.52 percent of the capital stock in HERMES. The remaining 0.48 percent will be squeezed out. This step will promote integration of credit- insurance activities within the Allianz Group. Allianz and its group company AGF announced in September 2001 that they were concentrating their credit-insurance business in a holding company based in Paris and named EULER & HERMES S.A. The projected 100 percent ownership of the HERMES Group by EULER & HERMES S.A. will facilitate full integration of credit- insurance business. After the transaction has been completed, AGF will hold at least 56 percent of the capital stock in EULER & HERMES S.A. and Allianz will hold 10 percent. Sales of 1.9 billion euros will make EULER & HERMES S.A. one of the leading global credit insurers. EULER and HERMES are together present in 29 countries and are uniquely positioned in the credit insurance, factoring and bonding sectors. Munich, May 10, 2002 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain of the statements contained herein may be statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management’s current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. In addition to statements which are forward-looking by reason of context, the words “may, will, should, expects, plans, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, predicts, potential, or continue’ and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those in such statements due to, without limitation, (i) general economic conditions, including in particular economic conditions in the Allianz Group’s core business and core markets, (ii) performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) interest rate levels, (vii) currency exchange rates including the Euro – U.S. dollar exchange rate, (viii) changing levels of competition, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, including monetary convergence and the European Monetary Union, (x) changes in the policies of central banks and/or foreign governments, (xi) the impact of acquisitions (e.g., Dresdner Bank), including related integration issues, and (xii) general competitive factors, in each case on a local, regional, national and/or global basis. Many of these factors may be more likely to occur, or more pronounced, as a result of the events on, and following, September 11th 2001. The matters discussed in this release may also involve risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Allianz AG’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Allianz AG assumes no obligation to update any forward- looking information contained in this release. end of message, (c)DGAP 10.05.2002