Hannover Re is a reinsurance company based in Hannover, Germany. It is the third-largest reinsurance group in the world, with a gross premium of around €33 billion. Founded in 1966, Hannover Re transacts all lines of property & casualty and life & health reinsurance and has a network of over 170 subsidiaries, branches and representative offices on all five continents with a total staff of more than 3,000. The Group's German business is written by the subsidiary E+S Rück.

A societas Europaea is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute for a European Company. Such a company may more easily transfer to or merge with companies in other member states.