Achmea announces proposal to withdraw preference shares

Achmea B.V. ("Achmea") will submit a proposal to the General Meeting to withdraw all the outstanding preference shares in its capital on 31 December 2023. This will be accompanied by a repayment of € 356 million and a dividend payment of € 20 million (both sums rounded) to the holders of preference shares. These are held indirectly by various banks and other institutional investors. The General Meeting to decide on the withdrawal is planned for 21 December 2023.

The Executive Board makes regular assessments of Achmea’s capital structure. On this basis, the Executive Board, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, has decided to propose the withdrawal. A factor in this is that the preference shares will no longer qualify as equity under Solvency II after 1 January 2026.

The pro forma impact of the withdrawal on the solvency as of 30 June is 6 percentage points. The Solvency at 30 June 2023 has been positively impacted by the issue of € 300 million of subordinated notes (Tier 2) at the end of June. There is a limited impact on the relative shareholdings.