PRESS RELEASE

INSURANCE: 13+ MILLION IN ANTITRUST FINES FOR COMPETITION-RESTRICTING AGREEMENT BY THREE COMPANIES AND ONE MULTI-FIRM AGENCY

Gerling (from Talanx, a German multinational), Faro, Navale (UGF) and Primogest (a multi-firm agency) divided up tenders for healthcare liability coverage in Campania. The agreement, lasting from 2003 to 2008, affected 18 procedures and 9 different procurement entities. Catricalà: “a very serious agreement for this particularly vulnerable sector. I had already made it clear that healthcare could no longer be treated as an 'albero della cuccagna' [tr.: 'gravy train']."

Over 13 million euros in fines for a competition-restricting agreement by three insurance companies and one multi-firm agency in the sector of healthcare liability coverage in Campania. With this decision, reached on 28 October 2011, the Antitrust is sanctioning Gerling, Faro, Navale and Primogest (a multi-firm agency) for setting up a unique and complex agreement, lasting from 2003 to 2008, to divide up various insurance tenders for the coverage of Third Party Liability (Responsabilità Civile Terzi (RCT)) and Operator Liability (Responsabilità Civile Operatori (RCO)) as determined by local healthcare and hospital companies in Campania.

“This agreement is particularly serious," declared Antonio Catricalà, the Antitrust President, "due to the health insurance sector's high vulnerability to coordinated participation in tenders, first of all, coupled with the extended duration and reach of the agreement itself, which involved large numbers of public entities and contracts. I had already made it clear that healthcare could no longer be treated as an 'albero della cuccagna' [tr.: 'gravy train']."

Gerling is an insurance company from the Talanx AG group, the primary German insurance group with worldwide activities in all branches, and Faro is an Italian firm that operates in several insurance branches, but which is currently undergoing forced liquidation. Navale was a member of the Unipol group at the time of the events but was incorporated in UGF in 2011. The cartel, which engaged numerous tenders, manifested itself through the anti-competitive use of co-insurance (both before and after the awarding of tenders) and coordinated participation in tenders by means of exchanging lots and contacts/information sharing between companies.

According to the Antitrust Authority, the agreement enabled the firms to parcel their participation into shares by means of a contract 'withdrawal/takeover' mechanism that evaded competitive confrontation and sustained assured levels of stability over time for the services provided. The multi-firm agency, Primogest, played the most active role in coordinating the pre-bid preparatory phase and post-bid withdrawals/takeovers, managing to maintain relations with healthcare entities and maximize commissions while enjoying the right of pre-emption for future participation in tenders with the companies themselves.

The parties to the agreement, which affected 18 tendering procedures and direct assignments and 9 different procurement entities, succeeded in winning insurance services equivalent to approximately 60% of all contracting in Campania.

The fines:

Rome - 3 October 2011