SDK and Die Stuttgarter announce today that they have successfully completed a merger to form a joint group of companies on an equal footing.
The SDK Group and the Stuttgarter Insurance Group have successfully completed their planned merger. The establishment of a jointly controlled group was unanimously approved by the respective member representative assemblies of both companies as of July 1, 2025. This step represents a significant milestone on the path to an even more powerful, joint company. “The merger review, which has been ongoing since October 2024, was an intensive and very thorough process. It has been confirmed at all levels that our two groups are an excellent fit,” said Dr. Ulrich Mitzlaff, CEO of SDK. Dr. Guido Bader, CEO of Stuttgarter, added: “The Federal Cartel Office has also given the green light. We now look forward to creating a group of companies with a shared culture and a common mission statement in the coming months.”
Two strong partners – one shared future
The two insurance groups bring numerous similarities and complementary strengths. This creates a future-proof insurance group with a focus on health, life, and accident insurance. The key figures for the new group:
- Around 1,600 employees
- Over 1.85 billion euros in gross premiums written
- More than 1.8 million insurance contracts
- Total assets of around 18 billion euros
The merger opens up new growth potential through complementary sales channels and product lines. Furthermore, synergies will arise in personnel recruitment and development, product and technology innovations, and IT investments. The new group is also better prepared for volatile conditions and increasing regulatory requirements.
Personnel integration in the Executive Board from 1 July 2025
As part of the jointly managed group, the management boards of both companies – Dr. Ulrich Mitzlaff, Olaf Engemann and Ralf Oestereich from SDK and Dr. Guido Bader, Jesko Kannenberg and Michael Krebbers from Stuttgarter – will be reciprocally appointed to the bodies of the other group. This will result in a joint appointment of members on the management boards of the insurance companies in the new group from July 1, 2025. The only exception is Ralf Berndt, Member of the Management Board for Sales and Marketing at Stuttgarter, who will retire as planned at the end of August 2025. As part of the integration of the management boards, some of the departmental responsibilities will also change. Key changes include: Dr. Ulrich Mitzlaff (unchanged Chairman of the Management Board of SDK) will be responsible for, among other things, auditing, accounting, human resources and risk management for the entire group, while Dr. Guido Bader (unchanged CEO of Stuttgarter) is responsible for the areas of capital investment, real estate and insurance technology/mathematics, and Jesko Kannenberg is responsible for sales via independent agents.
Structure of the future group
The goal is to transition to a new corporate structure in the future: As part of the restructuring, it is initially planned that Süddeutsche Allgemeine Versicherung a. G. will be transferred to Stuttgarter Versicherung AG in the third quarter of 2025, retroactively to January 1, 2025, and that Süddeutsche Lebensversicherung a. G. will be merged into Stuttgarter Lebensversicherung aG. Subsequently, further corporate transactions will be carried out to transfer the group of equal status companies to a new, forward-looking structure by the end of 2026.
Strong employee involvement
. Active employee involvement is a key success factor for the transformation. Numerous interdisciplinary workstreams have already been established under joint program management to shape the future group structure. “Our primary goal is to develop the best possible structure and distribution of tasks for the benefit of our members, customers, partners, and employees, creating the best of both worlds,” Mitzlaff and Bader emphasize together.
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