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Media releases Annual General Meeting of Bâloise Holding Ltd: election of members of the Board of Directors and approval of dividend increase
Basel, April 26, 2019. At the Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of Bâloise Holding Ltd voted in favour of all the proposals on the agenda put forward by the Board of Directors, thus again approving an attractive CHF 0.40 increase in the dividend to CHF 6.00 per share. Christoph Mäder and Dr Markus R. Neuhaus were elected as new members of the Board of Directors.

Further dividend increase approved

The Baloise Annual General Meeting approved the Company’s 2018 annual report and separate and consolidated annual financial statements, and formally approved the actions of the members of the Board of Directors and management team. The Annual General Meeting voted in favour of all proposals by the Board of Directors. The dividend was raised again, by CHF 0.40 to CHF 6.00 per share, thanks to the good results achieved in the 2018 financial year. This increase confirms Baloise’s status as an attractive long-term investment for its shareholders.

Christoph Mäder and Dr Markus R. Neuhaus elected as new members of the Board of Directors

Two new members were elected to the Board of Directors: Christoph Mäder and Dr Markus R. Neuhaus. Christoph Mäder is a lawyer and, until 2018, was a member of the Executive Team at Syngenta International AG.
Dr iur. Markus R. Neuhaus, a qualified tax expert, has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG since July 2012. His term of office ends in June 2019. He previously served as CEO at PricewaterhouseCoopers AG for nine years.

Dr Georges-Antoine de Boccard did not stand for re-election. He had been on the Board of Directors since 2011 and, most recently, was a member of the Remuneration Committee and Investment Committee. Karin Keller-Sutter stepped down from the Board of Directors with effect from 31 December 2018 following her election to the Swiss Federal Council. Dr Andreas Burckhardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bâloise Holding Ltd, expressed his gratitude to the two former members: “With their expertise and prudent approach, Karin Keller-Sutter and Georges-Antoine de Boccard made a huge contribution to the Baloise Board of Directors. I would like to thank them for their hard work and dedication and, on behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I wish them all the best for the future.”

All the other members of the Board of Directors were re-elected for a term of one year and Dr Andreas Burckhardt was confirmed as Chairman for a term of one year.

Corporate culture as the key to innovation and transformation

In his speech, Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr Andreas Burckhardt highlighted the vigour with which Baloise is driving the transformation of its corporate culture, a process that began two years ago with the new Simply Safe strategy. At the same time, the Company needs to achieve a balance between the core business that underpins its current success and the initiatives that are designed to secure the future. “Baloise is both evolving and adapting to the new challenges. By focusing on partnerships, we are doing this quickly enough to be able to develop new lines of business,” said Andreas Burckhardt. During the current phase of strategic development, Baloise is also relying on its corporate culture and values. “This makes me optimistic that we will successfully navigate the digital transformation. It is important to seize the opportunities of digitalisation and develop new lines of business, but without discarding our traditional values,” added Dr Andreas Burckhardt.

The full speech in German by Dr Andreas Burckhardt can be downloaded from www.baloise.com and can be watched as a video stream from 29 April 2019 at www.youtube.com/BaloiseGroup.

Important dates

  • Thursday, 2 May 2019: Ex-dividend date
  • Monday, 6 May 2019: Dividend payment date
  • Wednesday, 28 August 2019: 2019 half-year financial results
  • Wednesday, 13 November 2019: Q3 2019 interim statement
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Further information Media kit for the Annual General Meeting
Further information Media kit for the Annual General Meeting
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About Baloise The focus is firmly on the future at Baloise. We aim to make tomorrow more straightforward, safer and more carefree for our customers, and we are taking responsibility for this today. Baloise is more than just a traditional insurance company. Through our smart finance and insurance solutions, we offer a complete service package. Dependable support, reliable cooperation and trust-based relationships are key aspects of our stakeholder interaction. We take care of financial matters so that our customers can concentrate on the important things in their lives and can find inspiration in the everyday. Baloise, a European company founded more than 160 years ago, currently employs 8,000 people at its headquarters in Basel (Switzerland) and across its subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Our services generated a business volume of around CHF 8.6 billion in 2023. Baloise Holding Ltd shares (BALN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
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