26.11.99	<< back
Agreement on new strategic and commercial alliance
SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS to form alliance with VÅR Gruppen ASA: Agreement on new strategic and commercial alliance Yesterday night the boards of VÅR Gruppen ASA and SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS approved a proposal concerning a framework agreement for cooperation and integration. Under the agreement SpareBank 1 Gruppen will purchase the shares in VÅR Gruppen ASA. The trade union will become a 10% shareholder in SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS.
SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS is to pay the sum of NOK 3.3 billion for the shares in VÅR Gruppen ASA. In addition to the share transaction, a comprehensive strategic and commercial alliance will be formed between SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS and the existing Norwegian shareholders in VÅR Gruppen ASA. The agreement, based on the initiative of SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS, is founded on a broad consensus on the challenges facing Norwegian financial institutions in the Norwegian and Nordic perspective – and the best ways of meeting these challenges. Under the agreement the trade union membership schemes at VÅR will continue and will be further developed, to the benefit of members of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). The tradition of active trade union involvement in the financial industry will also be upheld through the agreement. In addition, long-terms agreements have been signed ensuring that the new alliance will be the main provider of financial products and services to LO and Co-op Norway (NKL). Trade union ownership will be secured through a 10% shareholding for LO in SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS. The ownership structure in SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS after the transaction has been completed will be as follows: SpareBank 1 banks 65%, LO 10% and FöreningsSparbanken AB (Swedbank) 25%. Following the merger with VÅR bank og forsikring, which is currently the fourth largest insurance company and seventh largest commercial bank in Norway, the new SpareBank 1 alliance will be the fourth largest banking and finance group in Norway, with total assets of almost NOK 180 billion. According to CEO Tor Lægreid of SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS and CEO Jan Tore Berg-Knutsen of VÅR Gruppen ASA, the new group will gain a new, stronger position in the Norwegian financial market, with widespread geographical distribution. VÅR bank og forsikring and SpareBank 1 complement each other extremely well. The alliance will strengthen SpareBank 1's range of life assurance and non-life insurance products, and banking services in general – particularly in Oslo/Akershus – will be improved. Customers of VÅR bank og forsikring will benefit from a far wider distribution network, which will also provide the basis for increased sale of insurance products. The new group will offer banking, investment and insurance products at more than 400 locations throughout Norway. The new alliance will be formed through the acquisition of VÅR bank og forsikring's operations by SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS. In practice the integration will take place by means of a merger between the product companies in the two holding companies. The companies' life assurance and non-life insurance companies will be merged and incorporated in VÅR Livsforsikring and VÅR Skadeforsikring. VÅR Fondsforvaltning will be incorporated in Odin Forvaltning. VÅR Bank in the Oslo and Akershus area will continue operations as part of SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS. VÅR banks in other regions will be incorporated in the SpareBank 1 banks in their present locations. The CEO of VÅR Gruppen ASA, Jan Tore Berg-Knutsen, will become senior advisor to SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS after the transaction. Tor Lægreid, the CEO of SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS, will become CEO of the new group, and the current deputy CEO of VÅR, Ole Grøterud, will become head of the group's insurance operations and deputy CEO. The merger will not result in redundancies in any of the companies. The agreement is conditional on approval by the authorities on satisfactory terms. About SpareBank 1 Gruppen SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS is a holding company in a binding cooperative agreement between SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge, SpareBank 1 Midt-Norge, SpareBank 1 Vest, SpareBank 1 SR-Bank and 17 leading savings banks in South Norway which belong to Samarbeidende Sparebanker AS, and the Swedish FöreningsSparbanken. SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS owns the product companies SpareBank 1 Livsforsikring AS, SpareBank 1 Skadeforsikring AS, SpareBank 1 Fondsforsikring AS, SpareBank 1 Kredittkort AS, Odin Forvaltning AS (51%), First Securities ASA (51%) and Sparebankkort AS (54%). EiendomsMegler 1 is also a party to the cooperative agreement. The SpareBank 1 alliance has combined total assets of approximately NOK 150 billion. The alliance has 368 branches, 4600 employees and 1.3 million customers, and is the fourth largest banking group in Norway. About VÅR bank og forsikring VÅR Gruppen ASA is owned by LO in Norway, Norwegian trade union, NKL and the Swedish Folksam, together with other institutional owners. VÅR Gruppen ASA consists of VÅR Bank AS, VÅR Livsforsikring AS, VÅR Skadeforsikring AS, VÅR Fondsforsikring AS and VÅR Fondsforvaltning AS. In addition comes VÅR Finans AS, which is wholly owned by VÅR Bank AS. VÅR Gruppen ASA has total assets of NOK 28.5 billion. VÅR has approximately 60 branches, 1270 employees and one million individual and collective customers. The group represents the fourth largest insurance company and seventh largest commercial bank in Norway. Oslo, 23 November 1999
Contacts: - CEO Tor Lægreid, SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS Tel. 22 82 97 39 - CEO Jan Tore Berg-Knutsen, VÅR Gruppen ASA Tel. 23 06 60 21 / 915 58 063 - Chairperson Bjarne Slapgard, SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS Tel. 22 82 97 00 / 900 22 315 - Chairperson Bente N. Halvorsen, VÅR Gruppen ASA Tel. 23 06 16 80 - Deputy CEO Ole Grøterud, VÅR Gruppen ASA Tel. 23 06 64 56 - Information director Thoralf Granerød, SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS, Tel. 918 30 369
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