Sympany is extremely pleased to announce that the City of Lucerne’s legislature (Grosser Stadtrat Luzern) approved its takeover bid for health insurer Xundheit in its session of Thursday 25 June 2009. The sale agreed between Lucerne – Xundheit’s owner of many years - and the Sympany Group was announced in May 2009 but still required final approval by the city’s legislators.

Xundheit will continue operating under its current name at least until 2011 and will retain a staff complement in line with its business volume. The objective is for Xundheit to regain its financial health mostly by relying on its own efforts. The company had to report both a net loss and depleted reserves for the 2008 financial year.

Xundheit will be integrated into the Sympany Group’s holding foundation of as an independent subsidiary,  with the Group’s Executive Board serving as its board of directors. Lukas Schmid, Head of Development  Private Customers in the Sympany Group, will keep a close hand in the company’s further development in his capacity as a member of its board of directors. How Xundheit will align with Sympany's corporate identity and product architecture over the medium term remains to be finalised.

For Sympany, taking over Xundheit and keeping its base of operations in Lucerne makes good economic and strategic sense:

- Sympany continues implementing its growth strategy by adding a further 35,000 customers and 160 staff, along with another regional hub to complement its existing ones in Basel and Bern/Fribourg (to market the group’s new indemnity insurance products, for instance).

- Xundheit has been a tried and trusted business partner of Sympany’s. Both health insurers emerged from the former ÖKK Group and to some extent share the same history. Sympany and Xundheit alike were pioneers in marketing managed-care models, working with HMO practitioners early on. Other areas meanwhile offer synergies and potential for cooperation.

Xundheit’s shares will change hands at a price of CHF 400,000, while shoring up the company’s financial base and paying for various integration costs will require nearly CHF 4 million in additional funds, by Sympany’s own estimates.