ZDRAVOTNÁ Poisťovňa Dôvera, Slovakia's largest private health insurance company, has reduced its share capital by Sk1.9 billion (€63.07 million), from Sk2.4 billion (€79.67 million) to less than Sk481.2 million (€15.97 million), the SITA newswire wrote on December 2, citing the Commercial Bulletin.
Martin Šimun, the insurer’s director general, explained that Dôvera made this decision after legislative developments created an environment in which health insurance couldn’t advance and health insurers couldn’t invest in progress.
Last year, Dôvera’s shareholders decided to increase the company’s share capital 15 fold, up by Sk2.25 billion to Sk2.4 billion, to boost its economic stability. However, new legislation put a 3.5 percent cap on operating costs and banned insurers from spending profits freely. This is another reason why it doesn’t make sense to tie up such a high volume of funds in share capital, Šimun said.
