Welcome to the website of GAC GmbH!
We would like to give you a general picture of the company in the following pages.
The investment volume of the 46 health insurance companies increased by 4% to around 360 billion euros at book values in 2023. As the hidden burdens halved, particularly in the area of bond investments, market values recovered significantly, resulting in a positive market value return of around 6% (previous year -18%). Although the volume of new investments in direct bonds increased significantly, the ratio continued to fall to around 50% due to maturing bonds. The overall ratio of fixed-interest investments fell further to around 78%. Despite the favourable market environment, the equity ratio fell somewhat surprisingly to around 5% in 2023. Real estate (7%) and alternatives (9%), on the other hand, continued to grow.
The investment volume of the life insurance companies fell by more than ten billion euros to around 1.03 trillion at book value in 2023. Market values recovered slightly, allowing hidden losses to be reduced by more than a quarter. The investment volume of unit-linked contracts rose to a new all-time high of a good 180 billion euros. Although direct bond investments have become more important again, the overall bond ratio has fallen slightly to around 77%. While the equity exposure was reduced by almost a sixth (ratio 4%), real estate (8%) and alternatives (10%) continued to increase slightly. At around 2.2%, net interest was roughly on a par with the previous year. The market value yield reached an average of around 6% (previous year -21%).
In 2023, two run-off transactions were prepared through the spin-off of insurance portfolios: Almost EUR 15 billion in investments were spun off from AXA LV AG to Ager LV AG, while Zurich LV AG transferred almost EUR 20 billion to Zurich Life Legacy Versicherung AG. While Ager LV AG is to be taken over by the Athora Group in 2024, BaFin has halted the takeover of the Zurich portfolio by the Viridium Group. As run-off companies usually focus strongly on interest-bearing investments, illiquid investments in particular usually remain with the original company. This can result in a significant shift in asset allocation. For example, the proportion of alternatives at AXA LV AG has almost doubled to over 10%. As almost three quarters of the investments were transferred in the Zurich transaction, the real estate quota of Zurich LV AG has increased to over 30%. According to the annual report, the company intends to pay particular attention to reducing the ratio, while the equity ratio has already been almost completely reduced.
With interest rates falling slightly, the balance sheet pension obligations of all DAX/MDAX companies in 2023 grew slightly faster than the plan assets provided to finance them. As a result, the funding ratio at the end of 2023 is capital-weighted at just over 77%, almost one percent lower than at the end of the previous year. With plan assets of just under EUR 300 billion, an average return of 6-7% was achieved in 2023. At the end of the year, almost 50% of the assets were invested in bonds and around 21% in equities. Real estate and alternatives accounted for around 7% and 8% respectively. The remainder is invested in insurance solutions, derivatives, liquidity and other investments.
Since 2004, the capital stock of all 92 pension funds for the liberal professions has tripled to 270 billion euros. In the course of the rise in interest rates in 2022/23, the reduction in bond investments has slowed down and direct investments are once again gaining in importance. At the end of 2022, the total bond ratio was around 40%, a good half of which was in direct investments. The equity allocation decreased significantly to around 17%, while real estate (23%) and alternatives (18%) were further expanded. The net interest rate fell below 3% on average, with values between minus and plus 5% being observed. Examples of market value returns ranged between -7% and -1%.