The Netherlands - Insurance Industry:Merger VMDeerenberg and KOSTER Insurances b.v

VMDeerenberg in Bodegraven and KOSTER Insurance b.v. in Alphen a/d Rijn announced they have agreed to cooperate and merge their activities. As a result of this merger a large consulting company in the area of risk management, damage and revenue insurance, pensions and mortgages services, has been created right in the center of the Netherlands, known as the “Green Heart”. 

For Wim Koster, the CEO of Koster Insurances b.v. this merger is a logical move. After 30 years of service and having built a profitable, pro-active and solid corporation ogether with his spouse and business partner Jolanda of Mil, Wim says: "We have chosen for VMDeerenberg because we believe that through them we can provide continued good and reliable services and security for our clients and to our employees. VMDeerenberg seeks these same values, as we move along in the coming year, and continue our progress."

For Herman Broere, owner of VMDeerenberg, the merger with KOSTER Insurances b.v. is a welcome addition to his company: "Wim Koster, and Jolanda van Mil have built a large and reputable retirement advisory and insurance company, and besides having an excellent reputation, KOSTER insurances unique automated online support systems are able to address and communicate all administrative and retirement solutions electronically in 'real time' .This is very distinctive and unique in the market." 

To guarantee the transparency of this merger VMDeerenberg Holding B.V.'s name will be changed into VMD KOSTER Group B.V.  Consequently as a result of this merger VMD KOSTER Group B.V., including their sister companies employ 66 people. Premium income is EUR 50 million. The company presently has over 30,000 clients and services some 70,000 policies through VMDeerenberg or KOSTER in management.

Mortgage sales amount to more than EUR 47 million. Turnover from billings, subscriptions and fees are EUR 5.2 million. The locations of operation of VMD KOSTER Group B.V are in Alphen aan den Rijn and Bodegraven in the Netherlands

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: Syrian immigrant, a Poet, among the dead in Mall shooting

Thousands of people, including numerous immigrants and the Dutch prime minister, gathered to lay flowers and mourn at a candlelit memorial service outside a mall at Alpen a/d Rijn where a mentally troubled man shot six people dead and killed himself a day earlier.

Investigators are still puzzling over the gunman's motive and trying to understand how he was able to obtain and legally own five firearms in the Netherlands, where gun control laws are considered very strict, despite prior run-ins with the law and a stay at a psychiatric institution.

The attacker, identified as 24-year-old Tristan van der Vlis, opened fire at the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn with a machine gun on a beautiful spring Saturday, authorities said. Many of his  victims were elderly people who were unable to flee.

Authorities did not publicly release victims' identities, citing privacy reasons. Mayor of Alphen aan den Rijn,   Bas Eenhoorn, said the victims all lived in Alphen, but said one was an 42-year-old immigrant from Syria, a poet. "And it was in our 'safe' country that he died because of this violence,"  Eenhoorn said.

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick, Study Says

Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands.

All deciduous trees in the Western world are affected, according to the study by Wageningen University. The city of Alphen aan den Rijn ordered the study five years ago after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees that couldn't be ascribed to a virus or bacterial infection.

Additional testing found the disease to occur throughout the Western world. In the Netherlands, about 70 percent of all trees in urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with only 10 percent five years ago. Trees in densely forested areas are hardly affected.

For more: Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick, Study Says - PCWorld Business Center