New material shareholder in JDC Group AG

- Great-West Life Group, one of the leading financial service providers, to acquire shares in JDC

- Expansion of Great West's Germany-based business with JDC with focus on the broker market

- Opportunities for Great-West in the market consolidation of the broker pool segment

- Long-term engagement of JDC's management team

The Canadian-based Great-West Lifeco Group, a holding company with 1.4 trillion CAN$ (approx. 925bn EUR) assets under management, including the life insurance company Canada Life, the Irish market leader Irish Life and the investment company Putnam Investments, has entered into an agreement to become the largest shareholder of JDC Group AG (ISIN: DE000A0B9N37, Bloomberg: A8A.GR) through its Irish financial holding Canada Life Irish Holding Limited and plans to acquire 28 percent of the share capital.

For this purpose, Great-West has concluded several share purchase agreements with the largest shareholders to date, the Family Offices of JDC founders Ralph Konrad and Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier, Aragon Holding GmbH and Grace Beteiligungs GmbH. Ralph Konrad and Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier will remain on board in the long term, together with former Google Manager Stefan Bachmann. All purchase agreements are still subject to the approval of the supervisory authorities.

"We are delighted that Great-West Lifeco wants to become our new major shareholder through Canada Life," said JDC CEO Dr. Sebastian Grabmaier describing the developments. "For us, Great-West is the ideal partner for us during the expansion of our digital platform and the consolidation of the broker market. The quality brands Canada Life, Irish Life and Putnam Investments demonstrate the high standards of the Group. The strategic focus on brokers and banks has been the decisive factor for us. "

"The JDC Group's strong base, digital approach and management team have convinced us," adds Declan Bolger, Executive Director of the Irish holding company: "To further expand our business, we see big opportunities arising from the outstanding technology and digital platform of the JDC Group. We love the brokerage business and want to offer intermediaries not only excellent products, but also digital marketing opportunities. The insurance settlement offered by JDC for third parties like banks will indirectly complement our positioning in the market."

About JDC Group AG
JDC Group AG (ISIN: DE000A0B9N37) stands for modern financial advice and intelligent financial technology for advisors and customers. In the "Advisortech" business unit, via our subsidiary Jung, DMS & Cie., we provide our customers and advisors with modern advisory and administration technology. While many sales and distribution partners perceive the technological transformation as a problem and the young Fintech companies as the new competitors, we perceive the "technology" factor to be a great opportunity. Solutions from the "Advisortech" business unit help advisors, brokers, banks and other intermediaries to take even better care of their customers and generate increased sales in their earnings. In the "Advisory" segment, we procure financial products for private end customers via free advisors using the FiNUM Group. With over 16,000 connected sales partners, a portfolio of more than EUR 4.5 billion and over EUR 1.5 billion in product sales each year, we are one of the market leaders in the German-speaking region.

Disclaimer:
The Directors of JDC Group AG hold a significant participating interest in JDC Group AG and have a self-interest in the nature and content of the information provided in this release.

You can find further information on the company and affiliates at www.jdcgroup.de.