The takeover of health insurer Vivas by Hibernian will act as a “catalyst for major change in the health insurance market in Ireland," the company predicted this morning.
Speaking at the formal launch of Hibernian Health, the company's chief executive Stuart Purdy said the group was anxious to exploit a growing trend among consumers to switch health insurers in search of better value.
He said that tesearch published by the company indicated that over two thirds of people with health insurance were prepared to switch, with most being prepared to do so in order to save €500 or less for a family membership."With a climate of switching now prevalent in a number of sectors, our research shows that consumers welcome the option to manage all their insurance needs with Hibernian," he said
Hibernian Health managing director Dick O'Driscoll said switching was now a feature of consumers' habits in other products and services and said it was increasingly a feature in health insurance. "Our message today to consumers is to shop around – switching cover is easy and can be done with just a phone call."
The company expressed the hope that increased investment and greater distribution networks would see it triple its membership to over 500,000 within the next five years. It has launched a multi-million-euro awareness campaign across print, TV, online and outdoor media under the campaign slogan of 'Looking out for you'.
In April Hibernian, which is owned by UK plc Aviva, confirmed it had taken over the holdings of Dermot Desmond's IIU and a team of Vivas management and staff. The remaining 30 per cent of Vivas will be retained by AIB, which already works closely with Hibernian through the companies' joint ownership of Ark Life.
No price was disclosed for the deal but it is thought to place a valuation of €45 million on Vivas as a whole. This is based on the health insurer's gross assets of €88.9 million at the end of last year.
Prior to the take over Vivas had built up a position of about 7 per cent in the health insurance market since being founded in 2004 to take on VHI and Bupa (now Quinn Healthcare) with a €12.5 million equity fund-raising. It has 2,000 corporate customers, including a number of large multinationals.
