No objections to merger between Barmenia and Gothaer

The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared under merger control plans to create a joint venture between Barmenia Versicherungen a.G. (Barmenia) and Gothaer Versicherungsbank VVaG (Gothaer). 

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The proposed concentration between Barmenia and Gothaer will be one of the largest mergers in the German insurance markets in recent years. However, we do not expect this concentration to seriously affect competition. The various insurance markets in Germany have a great number of competitors, some of which are significantly larger.”

Barmenia and Gothaer are the parent companies of the insurance groups of the same name. Both groups offer their customers a broad range of insurance products and pursue life insurance, private health insurance, non-life insurance and, to a lesser extent, reinsurance activities. In geographical terms, the two insurance groups generate their total annual revenue (from premiums) of over seven billion euros mainly in Germany.

The planned merger will make Barmenia and Gothaer two of Germany’s larger insurance companies. Nevertheless, even after the merger, their market shares in the various insurance markets will remain at a level that is unproblematic from a competition perspective. This is also true for the two companies’ main areas of activity, such as private health insurance and non-life insurance. After the merger, Barmenia and Gothaer will be the sixth largest private health insurance provider in Germany. Providers that are significantly larger in some insurance markets include the Allianz Group, the Munich RE Group, the Debeka insurance group, the R+V insurance group and the Talanx Group.