Erste Bank JPMorgan Merrill Lynch International

Overview
BUSINESS
With approximately 17 million customers, the Vienna Insurance Group is among the largest
international insurance groups in the CEE region based on gross premiums written, which amounted
to EUR 6,912 million in 2007 (2006: EUR 5,882 million) (Source: Internal analysis based on data for
the first three quarters of 2007 of the national insurance associations and supervisory authorities). It
has life and non-life insurance business operations in Austria and in 22 other countries, primarily in
the CEE region. In the CEE region, the Group is active in Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Croatia, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia (through a branch
of Wiener Städtische AG), the Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary and Belarus. The Vienna
Insurance Group operates independent companies in Germany and Liechtenstein and also operates
in Italy through a branch of Wiener Städtische AG. Unless otherwise indicated, all financial data
contained in this section has been audited or are derived from audited numbers.
The diagram below sets forth the countries in which the Vienna Insurance Group operates
(except for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and the brand name logos used by the Group companies in
each country:
In addition to its solid position in its home market Austria, the Vienna Insurance Group is primarily
growing into the emerging countries of the CEE region. The insurance business outside Austria is
gaining increasing importance for the Group (share of overall gross premiums generated outside
Austria: 2007 – 46.5%; 2006 – 41.6%; 2005 – 36.7%). Based on its internal analysis of the local data
of national insurance authorities, management believes that, with a market share of approximately
12.1%, it is the second largest insurance group based on gross premiums written among Western
publicly traded insurance companies operating in the Core CEE markets (excluding Serbia). Based on
the same analysis, management believes that no other Western publicly traded insurance group
generates a higher percentage of its group premiums from operations in the CEE countries.
In sales and distribution, the Vienna Insurance Group pursues a multi-brand strategy. The most
important brands under which the Vienna Insurance Group operates include “Wiener Städtische” and
“DONAU” in Austria, “Kooperativa,” and “CPP” in the Czech Republic, “Kooperativa,” “Komunálna “and
“Kontinuita” in Slovakia, “Compensa,” “BENEFIA,” “Royal Polska” and “PZM” in Poland, and
“Omniasig,” “Unita,” “Asirom,” and “Agras” in Romania. The Vienna Insurance Group also pursues a
multi-brand strategy in the remaining CEE countries in which it is active.
It is part of the Vienna Insurance Group’s philosophy to operate newly acquired companies under
their respective brand names, which are already established in the local market and familiar to their
customers. In 2006, the name Vienna Insurance Group was introduced as the “surname” after the
local “first names” of the individual corporations. This highlighted the Group’s growing international
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