Germany's Allianz, the world's largest insurance company, plans to increase its investments in shares and infrastructure as it seeks higher returns in a low interest-rate environment, a German newspaper reported. Allianz Chief Executive Michael Diekmann was quoted in German daily Tagesspiegel as saying Allianz wanted to invest more in "real assets, in properties and in shares" as well as in infrastructure projects such as wind parks, roads and airports.
In a pre-release of the interview to be published on Monday, Diekmann said Allianz wants to increase its investments in shares by about 5 billion euros ($6.9 billion), or 1 percent of the more than 500 billion euros of funds it manages from customer investments in insurance policies.
In terms of investments in infrastructure projects, he said Allianz would consider it appropriate to have a new kind of investment class, for example, securitizations which could be made by the European Investment Bank or the state development bank KfW.