FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Talanx caught investors on the wrong foot on Wednesday with a capital increase. The shares of the insurance group slumped by 7.2 percent to 61.05 euros around noon, bringing up the rear in the MDax mid-cap index. This means that the shares have now corrected below the 21-day line as an indicator of the short-term trend, following their record performance of the previous day. However, Talanx also had a strong run recently: After the interim low of 38.80 euros at the end of March, the shares knew almost only the way up and have since then still gained almost 60 percent in value.

On Tuesday evening, Talanx had already reported that it had raised around 300 million euros from investors in a capital increase, thus giving itself more scope for further acquisitions and business growth under its own steam. Talanx had placed 4.88 million new shares exclusively with institutional investors at a price of 61.50 euros per share, 4.30 euros below the previous day's closing price. The share certificates have now fallen to around this price level.

The existing shareholders had not been granted subscription rights, so the capital increase diluted the value of their shares. Talanx majority shareholder HDI had also placed a further 1.62 million shares on the same terms, reducing its stake in Talanx from 78.9 to 76.7 percent. The proportion of Talanx shares in free float will in turn be pushed up from 21.1 to 23.3 percent as a result of both steps.

In parallel with the capital increase, Talanx confirmed its business forecasts. For the current year, management continues to target a net profit of more than 1.4 billion euros and intends to distribute a dividend of more than 2 euros per share to shareholders. By 2025, profits are expected to rise to 1.6 billion euros. This does not yet include the positive effects from the acquisition of Liberty Mutual's business in Latin America, it said./niw/ag/stk