Allianz announces today that it has completed the acquisition of the Aviva Group’s operations in Poland and Lithuania. 

The transaction, announced on March 26 this year, is Allianz’s largest deal globally in a decade. It involves Aviva’s life and non-life insurance operations as well as its pension and asset management businesses. Under the transaction, Allianz had also agreed to acquire 51 percent stake each in Aviva’s life and non-life bancassurance joint ventures with Santander Bank Polska. The transaction also includes Aviva’s Life operations in Lithuania.

With the closing of the transaction, Allianz becomes the most profitable international player in the Central Eastern Europe market. In the key Polish market, Allianz becomes the fifth-largest insurer and the second-largest player in the life insurance segment¹, in terms of gross written premiums.

Petros Papanikolaou, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Central Eastern Europe, said: “We would like to welcome our colleagues and customers from Poland and Lithuania into the Allianz Group. After successfully completing the transfer of ownership, we will now focus on ensuring a seamless transition for our joint community of around 2,400 employees, a large network of about 4,000 agents, and almost 5 million customers in Poland and Lithuania. We are planning to complete the merger of our Polish operations by mid-2022. We look forward to working jointly with our colleagues to leverage our broad talent pool, wide distribution network, diversified product offering, and increased scale. Together, we will further strengthen our market position of a top international player in Poland and continue developing a unique and innovative value proposition for our customers.”

Additionally, Allianz announces the appointment of Jolanta Karny as the new Chief Executive Officer of Aviva Life and Aviva sp. z o.o., effective November 30. The appointment is subject to approval by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). Jolanta Karny has a successful track record in various positions in the organization. In her current role of Sales and Marketing Director, she oversees Aviva’s agent network in Poland, successfully driving the organization towards growth. 

Jolanta Karny succeeds Adam Uszpolewicz, who joined Aviva in 2007. He has led the company’s Polish operations as Chief Executive Officer since 2013, following an earlier stint as Chief Executive Officer during 2007-08. Adam Uszpolewicz has contributed significantly to making Aviva one of the most successful players in the Polish insurance market.