- published: 19 Dec 2014
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Allianz (help·info) SE (formerly Allianz AG) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.
Its Allianz Global Investors division ranks as a top-five global active investment manager, having €1,443 billion of assets under management (AuM), of which €1,131 billion are third-party assets (as of 2010-09-30), with specialized asset managers such as PIMCO (Bond fund), RCM (Equity fund), Degi (Real estate fund), etc.
Allianz sold Dresdner Bank to Commerzbank in November 2008. As a result of this merger, Allianz gained a 14% controlling stake in the new Commerzbank Group.
Allianz AG was founded in Berlin on 5 February 1890 by Carl von Thieme (a native of Erfurt, whose father was the director of Thuringia) and Wilhelm von Finck (co-owner of the Merck Finck & Co bank).
Allianz shifted its headquarters to Munich in 1949. The first step to become an international company started with the opening of a branch office in London in the late 19th century. After World War II, global business activities were gradually resumed. Allianz opened an office in Paris in the late 1950s, and a management office for Italy in the 1960s. These expansions were followed in the 1970s by the establishment of business in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil and the United States. In 1986, Allianz acquired Cornhill Insurance PLC, London, and the purchase of a stake in Riunione Adriatica di Sicurità (RAS), Milan, strengthened its presence in Western and Southern Europe in the 1980s. Recently, on February 8, 2006, RAS Shareholders approved the mergers with Allianz.
The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in the north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The two professional Munich football clubs FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 München have played their home games at the Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005–06 season. Both clubs had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium since 1972, where FC Bayern Munich played all of their games and TSV 1860 München most of their games. The Allianz Arena is the third biggest stadium in Germany behind Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund and the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The large financial services provider Allianz purchased the rights to name the stadium for 30 years. During the 2006 World Cup it was known as FIFA World Cup Stadium Munich. Near Allianz Arena, Fröttmaning U-Bahn station, on U6 can be seen.
The stadium was the venue for the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final.
The stadium is located at the northern edge of Munich's borough of Schwabing on the Fröttmaning Heath. It is the first stadium in the world that has a full changing color outside.