Gjensidige Forsikring is converted to ASA

Gjensidige Forsikring has received approval from the Ministry of Finance to convert the company into a public limited liability company (ASA).

All shares in Gjensidige Forsikring ASA are owned by the Gjensidige Foundation. In the case of a future listing of Gjensidige Forsikring on the stock exchange, the Foundation will sell a proportion of between 25 and 40 percent of the shares on the market. This will probably take place during the course of the last six months of 2010, subject to the satisfactory development of the stock market.

The Gjensidige Foundation exercises the customers’ ownership in Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, distributes dividends from Gjensidige Forsikring to the company’s general insurance customers in Norway, and handles sponsorship activities in the public arena.

“The conversion to an ASA constitutes an important step forward in the company’s growth and development,” says CEO Helge Leiro Baastad.

Information director Øystein Thoresen Tlf: 47 952 33 382

Gjensidige Forsikring ASA is Norway’s largest general insurance company with a market share of 28.4 percent in 2009. The group also offers banking, pension and saving products and health care services in Norway and general insurance in Denmark, Sweden and the Baltic countries. The company has approximately 3,800 employees, whereof 2,900 work in Norway. Operating income in 2009 was NOK 16.7 billion, while total assets constituted NOK 75 billion.