Allianz financing Allianz pioneers

It is an old problem in M&A financing. A company offers a target’s shareholders the option to be paid in its shares or cash. But it does not want to be left overcapitalised if the deal fails to go through – or everyone takes up the shares. Paul Achleitner, Allianz’s chief financial officer, has come up with what looks like a neat solution. Allianz needs to sell E2bn of shares to fund its buyout of the minority investors in Ras, the Italian insurer. But it doesn’t know how much – if any – of thi...