Clients of one of the insurance companies
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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Standard Reserve Sold to Russian-Dutch Funds
TBIH Russian Funds announced yesterday the purchase of a majority stake in Standard Reserve insurer. The deal initiated by TBIH Financial Services Group NV is the second market entry of foreign investors on the insurance market of Russia over a month-period.
Standard Reserve has been operating since 1993. The company collected 6.8 billion in 2004 to become the No. 12 in Russia. It was Russia’s fifteenth in MTPL collection, which reached 681.6 million ruble.
A month had hardly passed since ACE’s subsidiary appeared on Russia’s insurance market, when the market saw another insurer with the share of foreign capital. The purchase of Standard Reserve by TBIH Russian Funds was announced at the yesterday’s joint conference of the above two companies. Standard Reserve owner Viktor Yun specified the disposed stake reached 50 percent plus a stock.
Ariel Rudnitsky, TBIH general director for Russia, told Kommersant the company was a party to the deal jointly with Russian Funds Group, TBIH's strategic partner in Russia since late 2003.
Russian Funds Director Konstantin Beirit said the company doesn’t intend to withdraw from the equity of the insurer, as Standard Reserve is in line with its recent acquisition policy. The insurers and pension funds are financial instruments within the scope of the company’s specialization. “This is a typical retail product which we plan to develop,” Beirit told Kommersant yesterday.
No deal budget has been officially disclosed. A source close to the deal said it was slightly below $10 million. It took ten months to prepare the deal, Yun told Kommersant. Ernst & Young and Marillion were appraisers.
When evaluating the assets, the foreigners have definitely spotted that life insurance accounts for the major portion of 2004 collection (71.9 percent) posted by Standard Reserve. In Russia, this type of insurance is traditionally associated with illegal business.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 20, 2005
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