Acquisition of company shares

Hypoport Group acquires a stake in ePension
 

- ePension provides a digital platform for the administration of occupational pension schemes

- Potential for synergies with multiple business models in the Hypoport network

- Close collaboration with the SMART INSUR insurance platform

- Acquisition of 49 per cent of shares with the option of a full takeover in a few years

Lübeck, 4 March 2020: Yesterday, Hypoport AG acquired 49 per cent of all shares in ePension GmbH & Co. KG from the previous owner. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. ePension has been operating successfully in the field of occupational pension schemes since the mid-1990s. The company has its headquarters in Hamburg and a further development site in Überlingen on Lake Constance. In 2019, the ePension Group generated revenue of around €10.5 million with a workforce of just under 50 employees.

ePension GmbH & Co. KG has developed a portal solution for employers, employees, brokers and insurers which acts as a digital marketplace for the subsegment of occupational pension schemes. E & P Pensionsmanagement GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of ePension and a service provider for employers and their staff in the field of occupational pension schemes. It uses the ePension platform for the administration of its contracts. This is how the group first came into contact with Hypoport: At the end of 2017, E & P Pensionsmanagement took over the setup, support and management of the occupational pension scheme of the Hypoport Group.

"ePension really impressed us with its unique service offering and the fact that the integration of our holding structure into the employer portal was surprisingly easy. Further discussions revealed that a number of companies and business models in the Hypoport Group - especially our SMART INSUR insurance platform - could benefit from closer collaboration with ePension and E & P," explains Stephan Gawarecki, member of the Board of Management of Hypoport AG with responsibility for the Insurance Platform segment. Hypoport's wholly owned subsidiary Smart InsurTech AG operates the web-based SMART INSUR insurance platform, which enables users to manage, compare and obtain advice on insurance and pension products. "ePension complements the platform offering of SMART INSUR in the occupational pension segment. Our platform customers will be extremely interested in this additional range of products and services."

Dr Edgar Eschbach, founder and owner of ePension and E & P Pensionsmanagement, is excited about the investment from Hypoport, an SDAX-listed company and a strong partner that he, too, thinks has great potential for synergies with his business models. "We complement each other in many areas. We can benefit from the Hypoport network's decades of experience in platform operation and also bring our own expertise to the table. The integration of insurance companies is an area where we will be able to collaborate closely with Smart InsurTech AG and use their technical data, documentation and transaction services. Together, we will also drive technical product development forward more quickly and efficiently," says Eschbach. "My management team and I look forward to collaborating closely with the Hypoport Group companies in the coming years."

In addition to the acquisition of 49 per cent of shares at this point in time, the parties have agreed an option for Hypoport to acquire the remaining shares in the company in a few years.

About Hypoport AG

Hypoport AG is headquartered in Lübeck (Germany) and is the parent company of the Hypoport Group. The Group is a network of technology companies for the credit, real-estate and insurance industries with a workforce of approx. 1,800 employees. It is grouped into four segments: Credit Platform, Private Clients, Real Estate Platform and Insurance Platform.

The Credit Platform segment operates EUROPACE, which is an online B2B financial marketplace and the largest German platform offering mortgages, building finance products and personal loans. A fully integrated system links approx. 700 partners - banks, insurers and financial product distributors. Several thousand loan brokerage advisors execute more than 35,000 transactions per month on EUROPACE, generating a volume of approx. €6 billion. Besides EUROPACE, the FINMAS and GENOPACE sub-marketplaces and the B2B distribution companies Qualitypool and Starpool support the growth of the credit platform.

The Private Clients segment, made up of the web-based, non-captive financial product distributor Dr. Klein Privatkunden and the consumer comparison portal Vergleich.de, brings together all business models aimed at directly advising consumers on mortgages, insurance or pension products.

All real estate-related activities of the Hypoport Group, with the exception of mortgage finance, are grouped together in the Real Estate Platform segment (previously Institutional Clients) with the aim of digitalising the sale, valuation, financing and management of properties.

The Insurance Platform segment operates SMART INSUR, a web-based B2B platform for advice, comparison of tariffs and the administration of insurance policies. The segment also incorporates the insurance unit of Qualitypool, a B2B distribution company.

The shares of Hypoport AG are listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Deutsche Börse) and have been included in the SDAX since 2015.

Contact

Jan H. Pahl
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +49 (0)30 / 42086 - 1942
Mobil: +49 (0)176 / 965 125 19
Email:


 

Key data on Hypoport's shares

ISIN DE 0005493365
WKN 549336
Stock exchanges symbol HYQ