Activist Cevian presses Swiss insurer Baloise for strategy reset

Cevian now owns about 9.4% of Baloise. Keystone / Christian Beutler

Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest dedicated activist investor, is pressing for a strategic overhaul at Swiss insurance group Baloise after building up what it said was a stake of more than 9% to become the company’s largest investor.

The move by Sweden’s Cevian – which has previously waged high-profile campaigns at other European insurance groups, including London-listed Aviva – raises the temperature for Baloise ahead of a strategy day later this week.

Baloise, which has a near-$9 billion (CHF7.6 billion) market value and sells general and life insurance products alongside banking and other services, is a top-10 insurer in Switzerland, which provides nearly half of its revenues. It also has operations in other European countries, including a small German unit, which contributed 15% of its revenues last year. 

Cevian now owns about 9.4% of Baloise, becoming its largest shareholder based on latest disclosures, according to the activist. UBS has a latest declared stake of 9.3%, including that previously owned by Credit Suisse, according to Bloomberg data.

Cevian partner Robert Schuchna said Baloise “has the opportunity to become a top-performing Swiss insurer. We believe that there is significant value potential in the company”.

Baloise said it does not comment on its relationship with individual shareholders but was “looking forward to September 12, when we will explain Baloise’s strategic direction at our investor update”.

Cevian wants Baloise’s management to refocus the group on countries where it is strongest and has a high market share, and direct more of its cash generation to shareholder returns and investing in its domestic market, according to people familiar with its thinking. 

The capital markets day this week is seen by Cevian as a last chance to overhaul the strategy, otherwise governance improvements would be essential, including adding more insurance expertise to the board, those people added.

Difficult run

Baloise has had a difficult run in recent years, relative to peers. Its share price valuation has fallen over the past half decade while those of larger rivals Swiss Life, Zurich and Axa have risen. Its return on equity of 7% in 2023 and 2024 also trailed peers. 

Earlier this year, Baloise ditched a start-up investment strategy that had seen it invest about CHF50 million ($59 million) a year in new ventures with the hope of reaching CHF350 million revenue from these innovations by 2025. Investments included Batmaid, a cleaning services business and Parcandi, which shows users local parking spaces.

Cevian’s stake-building comes after Baloise’s shareholders voted earlier this year to remove a critical protection against agitating shareholders. This was a long-standing rule whereby investors had their voting rights capped at 2%, regardless of the size of their stake.

Investment firm zCapital had pushed to change the rule, and was backed by the two big proxy firms ISS and Glass Lewis, whose recommendations are influential with passive investors.

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