Sampo is made up of the parent company Sampo plc, If P&C Insurance, Danish insurer Topdanmark and British P&C insurer Hastings Insurance. The parent company is responsible for the group's strategy, capital allocation, risk management, group accounts, investor relations, sustainability, and legal and tax matters.[3]
Sampo Group employs over 13,000 employees.[4] Torbjörn Magnusson is the CEO.
The story of Sampo began in 1909, when the Mutual Insurance Company Sampo was established in Turku, Finland.
The 1980s were a turning point in Sampo's history. In 1987, Sampo changed its company type from a mutual insurance company to a limited company. The company's insurance customers became shareholders, and Sampo was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in January 1988.
The merger of Sampo and state-owned Leonia Bank was the number one business news story at the turn of the millennium. Sampo's Annual General Meeting approved the merger in April 2000. The Finnish state became the largest owner of Sampo-Leonia.
Leonia Bank became Sampo Bank in February 2001, and Investment Bank Mandatum joined Sampo Group later that spring. Björn Wahlroos became Group CEO and President and brought with him a new type of thinking derived from his banking expertise. The focus of operations shifted towards bank services and long-term savings.[6]
In 2002, Sampo became a shareholder of the Nordic property and casualty insurance company If. Two years later, Sampo bought out the Norwegian company Storebrand, the Swedish-owned Skandia, and the Finnish insurance company Varma, making itself the sole owner of If.[6]
In 2006, Sampo Group announced a historic divestment, selling its banking operations, known as Sampo Bank, to the Danish Danske Bank for over €4 billion (US$4.5 billion).[7] This sale allowed Sampo to focus on its insurance business, with the proceeds invested in shares of Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordic region, until Sampo sold its entire holding in Nordea in April 2022.
On 29 March 2023 the Board proposed a demerger of Sampo plc by separating Mandatum from Sampo. The Annual General Meeting approved the demerger plan on 17 May 2023. The partial demerger of Sampo plc became effective on 1 October 2023.[8]
In June 2024 Sampo announced its decision to make a recommended, best and final public exchange offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares in Topdanmark not already owned by Sampo. The offer period expired on 9 September 2024. Based on the final result of the offer announced on 16 September 2024, the exchange offer to the shareholders of Topdanmark will be completed.[8]
Structure
Nowadays, Sampo Group consists of the parent company Sampo plc and the subsidiaries:
If, which is the largest P&C insurer in the Nordic Countries;
the Danish P&C insurance company Topdanmark and
P&C insurer Hastings in the UK.
Through its subsidiaries, Sampo operates in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Baltic countries, and the UK.
Selected board members at the Annual General Meeting held on April 25, 2024:
Antti Mäkinen, Chair of the Board since 17.5.2023, Board member 2018-2021
Jannica Fagerholm, Vice Chair of the Board since 9.4.2019, Board member since 18.4.2013
Christian Clausen, Board member since 21.4.2016
Georg Ehrnrooth, Board member since 2.6.2020
Steve Langan, Board member since 18.5.2022
Risto Murto, Board member since 16.4.2015
Markus Rauramo, Board member since 19.5.2021
Astrid Stange, Board member since 25.4.2024
Annica Witschard, Board member since 17.5.2023
Shareholders
Sampo has A shares and B shares. Sampo plc's A share has been listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki (former Helsinki Stock Exchange) since January 1988 and is nowadays one of the most valuable companies on Nasdaq Helsinki. Sampo is also listed on Nasdaq Stockholm through Swedish Depositary Receipts (SDRs) and on Nasdaq Copenhagen.[10]
The largest registered shareholders by number of shares (31 January, 2024). The list does not include owners of nominee-registered shares.
At the end of 2023, Sampo had over 206,000 shareholders. Approximately 60 per cent of shares were held by foreign and nominee registered shareholders. [11]
Sustainability
In 2017, Sampo plc published the first group-level sustainability report. In 2019, the Group joined the UN Global Compact initiative and signed the UN PRI. In addition to the group-level sustainability reporting, each individual Sampo Group company publishes their own sustainability reports annually.[12]
Name
In Finnish mythology, the name "Sampo" refers to a mythical machine that creates salt, food, flour and gold out of nothing.
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