Capital increase reserved for Cattolica for 35% of IMA Italia Assistance

Verona, 26 September 2018. Cattolica and Inter Mutuelles Assistance announced they have signed a binding offer intended to guarantee Cattolica’s entry into the capital of IMA Italia Assistance S.p.A., an insurance company forming part of the Inter Mutuelles Assistance Group and specialised in the assistance business, by signing a reserved capital increase, for an overall amount equal to €8.58 m. The transaction, whose closing is envisaged in the first half of 2019, subject to the necessary approval from IVASS, will bring Cattolica to a shareholding of 35% in the share capital of IMA Italia Assistance. The agreement signed by the parties provides Cattolica the option of purchasing, as of 2022, an additional stake in IMA Italia Assistance, up to a shareholding of 51%, whose exercise is linked to the development of a shared growth plan.

Through this partnership, Cattolica and the IMA Group are combining their industrial expertise, giving impetus to the growth of IMA Italia Assistance, with the aim of becoming the 4th operator on the national market for assistance services.

Alberto Minali, CEO of the Cattolica Assicurazioni Group, commented: “Entering this sector alongside a partner like IMA SA will enable us, over the long term, to further transform our business model towards high-value services. The union of industrial expertise will allow us to play a key role in a growing high-profit market and to offer our customers an even more evolved service. We are happy to be working with a player that shares the Cattolica Group’s strong insurance history, as well as the values of customer service centrality and continuous drive for innovation.”

Claude Sarcia, CEO of the Inter Mutuelles Assistance Group and IMA Italia Assistance, stated:“After France, Italy is our most important market in Europe and IMA Italia Assistance has been a great driver, if not a pioneer, of the Group's innovation. I am extremely satisfied to have found in Cattolica an industrial partner that will allow us to achieve, in the short term, the significant dimensions to support growth plans and investments in accordance with the Group's strategy plan. We share the values and strategic vision of Cattolica. IMA Italia Assistance will maintain its independent identity on the Italian market, strengthening the focus on innovation and guaranteeing attention to quality of services, for which we are well known”. .

Thanks to future investments and the new provision of capital, IMA Italia Assistance will be able to implement significant innovation initiatives and increase its own competitiveness and efficiency, with the objective of becoming the player of reference on the Italian assistance market for insurance companies, automotive manufacturers and companies in the utility sector.

With this transaction, Cattolica consolidates its own offer and, thanks to the collaboration with the Inter Mutuelles Assistance Group, enables new diverse services, for example in the Connected Motor, Home and Travel sectors, enriching the ecosystem of services for its clients, as envisaged in the 2018-2020 Business Plan.

Business Assistance is one of the branches with greatest potential in the Italian non-life sector, with a CAGR 2012-17 of premiums equal to 7.7% and an average combined ratio in the same period equal to 67.1%².

¹ANIA data processed internally.

²Figures from IVASS data for the premiums and ANIA for the combined ratio.