Gjensidige Forsikring ASA is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 insurance company. Though the company has roots back to 1689 when the fire treasury at Nes

Nes, Akershus

Nes is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnes.-Name:...

 was founded, Gjensidige in its present form was founded in 2003 when the insurance division of Gjensidige NOR

Gjensidige NOR

Gjensidige NOR was a Norwegian bank and insurance company that was in existence between 1999 and 2003. The company was created when the two savings banks Sparebanken NOR and Gjensidige were merged in 1999. In 2002 Norwegian savings banks were allowed to become public limited company and was...

 was not made part of its merger with Den norske Bank

Den norske Bank

Den norske Bank or DnB was a Norwegian bank that existed between 1990 and 2003 when it merged with Gjensidige NOR to form the present DnB NOR...

. Previously organised as a mutual insurance

Mutual insurance

A mutual insurance company is an insurance company which has no shareholders but instead is owned entirely by its policyholders. The primary form of financial business set up as a mutual company in the United States has been mutual insurance. Under this idea, what would have been profits are...

 company, Gjensidige demutualised

Demutualization

Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, members of a mutual usually receive a "windfall" payout, in the form...

 and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

 in December 2010. The firm, headquartered

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, has a 32.1% share of the Norwegian insurance market. The company has 176 branches and 1.5 million customers. Gjensidige has subsidiaries in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 and The Baltics.

The company offers all kinds of insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 and is divided into three main sectors: private, agriculture and business. It also offers retail banking

Retail banking

Retail banking is banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include: savings and transactional accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, and so forth.-Types of...

 products through its subsidiary Gjensidige Bank as well as pensions and savings products.

Gjensidige owns 24.33% of the stocks in Storebrand

Storebrand

Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...

, one of the largest life insurance companies in Scandinavia.

History

The brand name Gjensidige was first taken into use in 1976 when Norsk Bilforsikring Gjensidige, originally Christiania almindelige gjensidige forsørgelsesanstalt was merged with Samtrygd. Samtrygd was created in 1920 as an umbrella organisation for the 260 fire treasuries in Norway to create a stable liquidity in case of large fires. The first fire treasury was founded in 1689 in Nes.

In 1993 Gjensidige merged with Forenede Forsikring and in 1996 Gjensidige Bank was created with bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

ing services. In 1999 Gjensidge and the savings bank Sparebanken NOR

Sparebanken NOR

Union Bank of Norway branded as Sparebanken NOR was Norway's largest savings bank between 1990 and 1999. The bank was created as a merger between Sparebanken ABC and four other regional savings banks. The new bank had its headquarters in Oslo and was in existence until 1999 when it merged with...

 merged to form Gjensidige NOR

Gjensidige NOR

Gjensidige NOR was a Norwegian bank and insurance company that was in existence between 1999 and 2003. The company was created when the two savings banks Sparebanken NOR and Gjensidige were merged in 1999. In 2002 Norwegian savings banks were allowed to become public limited company and was...

. When Gjensidige NOR merged with Den norske Bank

Den norske Bank

Den norske Bank or DnB was a Norwegian bank that existed between 1990 and 2003 when it merged with Gjensidige NOR to form the present DnB NOR...

 in 2003 to form DnB NOR

DnB NOR

DNB ASA is Norway's largest financial services group with total combined assets of more than NOK 2.0 trillion and a market capitalisation NOK 102 billion as per December the 31st. The Group includes brands such as DNB, Vital, Nordlandsbanken, Cresco, Postbanken, DnB NORD and Carlson...

, Gjensidige was demerged and became a separate company again, though in many places it retains co-location with DnB NOR.

In November 2007 Gjensidige applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

, and was scheduled to be listed in Q4 of 2008. However, due to the global financial turmoil and instability on the stock exchanges, Gjensidige has announced that it had postponed its debut on the OSE until 2009. The company eventually listed a 40% stake on 10 December 2010, marking the largest Norwegian initial public offering

Initial public offering

An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

in almost a decade. The IPO price valued Gjensidige at NOK 29.5 billion.