Generali Buys Ingosstrakh Stock
The Ingosstrakh insurance company has a new major stockholder. Alexander Mamut has sold his share package in the company, and its ultimate buyer is European insurance giant Generali Group, according to a source close to deal. According to the source, a legal entity was formed especially to acquire the stock from Mamut, and it will be officially joined to Generali Group in the near future.
The source did not specify the size of the share package sold. Mamut is thought to own about 40 percent of the Ingosstrakh. However, according to the company's report for the first quarter of this year, MDM Bank is the nominal owner of 31.71 percent of the company. Those shares previously belonged to the Investment Initiative and New Capital companies. “Clearly the owners of the company were getting the structure of the stock capital in order,” commented Renaissance Capital analyst Dmitry Polyakov. “In Russia, that means preparations for a change in stockholders.” Mamut was the chairman of the board of MDM Bank until October 2001.
According to federal agency Rosstrakhnadzor, Ingosstrakh occupied fifth place on the market by premiums collected (7.3 billion rubles) in the first quarter of the year. Four companies own 54.44 percent of it. They are Bekar-Service (16.03%), Soft-Karat (15.68%), Granit (15.98%) and Vega (6.75%). It is thought that all of those companies represent the interests of Oleg Deripaska. Deripaska owns 10 percent of the company personally. Another 3.68 percent of the company is owned by small shareholders who have not been identified.
The Italian Generali Group is one of Europe's largest insurers. It operates in 60 countries and has a capitalization of ˆ64.5 billion. The company negotiated with RESO-Warranty last year and opened a subsidiary for tourist insurance in Russia in March. Foreign companies have been buying up Russian companies all year. Zurich Financial Services bought 66 percent of NASTA for about $115 million in February. The German Allianz bought 49.2 percent of ROSNO for $750 million the same month. Yesterday it was announced that Allianz has purchased 100 percent of Progress Warranty. That deal has been estimated at $110-175 million.
Ingosstrakh has a capitalization of $2.75 billion as of May 21. It was included on the RTS Board list on April 26. If Generali Group bought 31.71 percent of Ingosstrakh, the sum of the deal would be about $870 million, based on the RTS Board. The coefficient customary in the West for estimating the worth of insurance companies is 0.7 times annual collection. That would make 31.71 percent of Ingosstrakh worth $262 million. In Russia, that coefficient may be higher. It was 2.13 when ROSNO was sold. Industry sources say that Generali is preparing to buy all of Ingosstrakh. The Basel publicity department declined to comment on Deripaska's plans for the company.
Tatyana Grishina, Yulia Chaikina, Dmitry Ladygin, Tamila Dzhodzhua
All the Article in Russian as of May 22, 2007
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