(Bloomberg) -- For Hannover Re, theworld’s third-biggest reinsurer, it’s time to take profits in thestock market.

The German company said on Wednesday that it sold its entirestock portfolio, worth about 953 million euros ($1.1 billion), tohelp pay for claims from hurricanes andearthquakes.

It was “time to realize the gains in our portfolio of listedequities,” Chief Financial Officer Roland Vogel said on a call withreporters. Global stock markets have rallied for more than eightyears, with many reaching records. This year, Germany’s benchmarkDAX Index has advanced 17%, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 Indexhas added 16%.

Grow the business

The reinsurer booked a gain of 223.3 million euros in the thirdquarter on the sale of its stock portfolio, which it had builtby adding large groups of shares in August 2015 and January 2016.The decision means Hannover Re will no longer need to setaside money to protect itself from the risk of a stock-marketcrash. It will instead use that money to grow the business in areashit by recent disasters such as hurricanes in the Caribbean and earthquakes in Mexico, Vogel said.

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The proceeds of the stock sell-off will also help Hannover Re tokeep the total amount of money it distributes to shareholdersunchanged, Vogel said. For 2016, the company paid out 3.50 euros ashare plus a special dividend of 1.50 euros.

Hannover Re shares have gained about 6% this year, increasingthe company’s market value to 13 billion euros.

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