Europe

ZFS buys German private insurer

Zurich Beteiligungs AG (Deutschland), a subsidiary of the Zurich Financial Services Group, is buying the privately-owned German personal accident insurer Baden Badener Versicherung AG for an undisclosed sum. Baden Badener was set up in 1991, and generated premium income of €45mn (US$67mn) in 2007. It distributes its products though a network of 8,700 private customer brokers, and it is primarily to gain access to this specialised network (where Baden Badener has a 15% market share) that Zurich is buying Baden Badener.