Eureko raises stake in Turkish Eureko Sigorta to 100% from 80%

Eureko and Garanti Bank have signed an agreement leading to the sale of 20% shares in Eureko Sigorta to Eureko. After the sale Eureko becomes 100% owner of the leading Turkish insurance company. Finalisation of the transaction is subject to approval by the regulatory authorities.

Eureko entered the Turkish market in 2007 with the acquisition of 80% of Eureko Sigorta and 15% of Garanti Emeklilik, partner Garanti Bank's life and pension business. Part of that agreement was a put option for Garanti Bank on the remaining 20% of the shares of Eureko Sigorta. Garanti Bank chose to exercise its right to sell the shares. For Eureko, the expansion of the business in Turkey fits perfectly within our international strategy in which Turkey is, next to Russia and Greece, one of the three focus countries.

Gerard van Olphen, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board and CFO of Eureko comments: "Since the start of our cooperation, Eureko Sigorta has developed very well. We are proud that Eureko Sigorta, and its employees, are part of our Group. The friendly atmosphere in which the transaction was concluded shows that both Garanti Bank and Eureko are very much aware of their core strengths, which is finance for Garanti Bank and insurance for Eureko. It also shows that both parties realize that these competences are complementary in many ways. Distribution of insurance products via Garanti Bank in Turkey has proven to be an excellent, logical and client friendly way of advising customers on their personal finance. Eureko has a long standing experience with this model in the Netherlands with the sale of insurance products via the Rabobank."

Gökhan Erün, Executive Vice President of Garanti Bank: "Since 2007 when we teamed up with an experienced partner like Eureko, we have achieved extremely competitive operations in terms of price, product quality and diversity. Garanti closed the year 2010 with a 21% market share as the industry leader in bank insurance. With the recent agreement, our collaboration with Eureko, one of Europe's leading insurance companies, will continue at the same pace. We are carrying out extensive projects to further increase the volume of our insurance products that are complementary to banking products. We will maintain and further secure our leadership in bank insurance."