Talanx launches rights issue in search of €300m capital

Talanx has announced it is offering new shares in the amount of up to €300m from authorised capital under exclusion of existing shareholders’ subscription rights.

Majority shareholder HDI is offering additional Talanx shares up to €100m from its own holdings to further increase the size of the free float.

Shares will be placed solely with institutional investors via an international placement using an accelerated book-building process, the German insurance company said.

If the transaction is implemented in full, Talanx’s free float would rise from the current 21.1% to approximately 23.2%, which the firm said would strengthen its membership in equity indices.

“This move is our response to repeated requests from investors to increase Talanx’s free float and to lay the foundations for improving the shares’ trading liquidity,” said Jan Wicke, Talanx’s chief financial officer.

Talanx’s share capital is expected to rise through the issuance of new no-par value registered shares against cash contributions under simplified exclusion of shareholders’ subscription rights, the company said.

“In addition, it will strengthen the position of Talanx’s shares in a number of equity indices. This is a positive step for our stock’s future performance. All in all, it means we are laying the foundations for more investors to invest in our shares,” he added.

New shares are expected to start trading on the Frankfurt and Hannover stock exchanges on 27 September.

The new shares will bear full dividend rights for the current financial year as from 1 January 2023.

Talanx said it continues to plan to pay its shareholders a dividend of more than EUR 2.00 per share for the financial year 2023.

The expected positive effects in relation to the recent acquisition of Liberty Mutual in Latin America are not yet reflected in the medium-term goals which are set to achieve a profit of €1.6bn by 2025.