ERSTE-SPARINVEST Kapitalanlagegesellschaft m.b.H. (“ESPA“), largest investment company in Austria, merges with its parent company, Erste Asset Management GmbH (“EAM“). The merger has already been approved by the required bodies and the Financial Market Authority. The merger became effective as result of the entry in the commercial register on 3.11.2018 and will be retroactively effective for accounting purposes as of 31 December 2017.
 

“The merger is a logical step towards the streamlining of the organisational structure of asset management within Erste Bank Group and facilitates a unified corporate appearance at our locations and through our business activities,” explains Heinz Bednar, CEO of EAM. The composition of the board of EAM remains unchanged, consisting of Heinz Bednar (CEO), Winfried Buchbauer, Wolfgang Traindl, and Peter Karl.

All employees of ESPA will be taken over into EAM. This also applies to the organisational units and the management teams. “The merger is the result of extremely intensive work and thorough due diligence. The successful consummation of our merger results in improved organisational structures and, as far as our employees and clients are concerned, in the utmost trust in our future,” says Bednar.

All investment funds under ESPA management, i.e. the entire pool of assets under management of EUR 32.1bn (as of 29 September 2018) managed by ESPA, will be taken over and managed by EAM from the day of the merger. The investment funds of ESPA will remain unchanged, and this also applies to the fund names. There will be no changes arising to the investors of ESPA investment funds from the merger.

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Erste Asset Management GmbH coordinates and is responsible for all asset management activities (management of investment funds and individual portfolio solutions) within Erste Group Bank AG. At its locations in Austria, Germany, Croatia, Romania, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, EAM manages assets worth EUR 61.4bn (as of 29 September 2018).