Austria's top economic news - April 7

Zürich Versicherung said it raised its premiums in Austria's indemnity insurance market by 5.4% to EUR 369.1m and in life insurance by 5.2% to EUR 170m in 2010. The company's profit, however, decreased to EUR 15.6m from EUR 21.9m for 2009.
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Aluminium group AMAG said it's shares will be priced at EUR 19 apiece during the IPO on Friday. The price, as expected by market observers, stands at the lower end of the announced price range of up to EUR 21. The company will list around 19m shares (down from 22.29m initially planned), 14m of which provided by the current shareholders and the remaining coming from a capital increase.
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Telekom Austria plans to transfer some of its employees, who the company does not need anymore, to other big companies. There, the around 700 people will receive the same salaries and keep their status as civil servants, WirtschaftsBlatt reported, quoting Telekom Austria's workers representatives.
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The five executive board members of Austrian Post AG earned a total of EUR 3.35m for 2010, including EUR 1.51m as bonuses.
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US cafe chain Starbucks will open its 11th cafe in Vienna on April 29. It will be located on the Graben, in the city's centre. The company sees a sales increase of 10% for 2011 in Austria, the same as last year.
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Telekom Austria said it has suspended from work Michael Kolek, a former head of the company's works council. Vienna's prosecutors are currently investigating Kolek in suspicions related to the so-called Hochegger scandal.
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Binding bids for the eastern European unit of Österreichische Volksbanken AG (ÖVAG) are expected until after Easter, Format reported. Russian Sberbank and French Banque Populaire are considered to be the main interested parties in the acquisition process.