Helvetia Baloise Holding AG said it aims to return some 2.8 billion Swiss francs ($3.6 billion) to investors over the period to 2028, as the newly-merged insurer sets financial targets for the first time.
The company proposed a dividend of 7.70 Swiss francs per share for 2025 and said that by 2029 it is aiming to increase that by more than 50%, according to a statement on Wednesday.
Announced a year ago, the combination created Switzerland’s second largest insurer and marked one of the biggest deals in European finance in 2025. The insurers have said the merger will result in 350 million francs of annual cost savings and will include layoffs.
Helvetia Baloise also said it wants to grow underlying earnings per share by 10% to 12% per year, driven by cost savings, and is targeting an underling return on adjusted equity of between 16% to 18%.
The combined entity reported unaudited underlying earnings of 1.03 billion francs in 2025, with the figure being provided for “illustrative purposes.”
Helvetia Chief Executive Officer Fabian Rupprecht kept the CEO job following the merger, while Baloise’s Thomas von Planta remained Chairman.
In December the company told Bloomberg it planned to axe 2,000 to 2,600 jobs over the next three years, with most of those cuts being made in Switzerland. Helvetia Baloise said so far 1,100 employees have left the organization.
The insurer has said it expects roughly 500 million to 600 million Swiss francs of integration costs in the coming years, most of which will be incurred by 2028.
The company said the integration is progressing according to plan and the implementation of the new market and Group structures has begun.
Photograph: The Baloise Holding AG headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Photo credit: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg
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