Gazprom shields Sogaz from sanctions
MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - IK Abros has reduced its stake in Russian insurance company Sogaz from 48.5% to 32.3%, the insurer reported in a statement.
Meanwhile, OJSC Gazprom-Gazoraspredelenie acquired 16.2% of shares in Sogaz on August 14.
Gazprom did not comment on when, why and at what price its subsidiary acquired the 16% stake in Sogaz, but confirmed that Gazprom-Gazoraspredelenie does own this stake in the insurer.
Sogaz was wholly owned by the Gazprom group ten years ago, but in 2004 Gazprom sold 49.98% of the insurer for 1.69 billion rubles, and then another 25.99% for 800 million rubles. Gazprom's stake subsequently dropped to 3.7% and the companies of Bank Rossiya acquired control of Sogaz.
If the latest deal was made on market terms, Gazprom might have paid more for the 16% stake than it earned for selling the whole company earlier. In the third quarter of 2013, Gazprombank valued its 19% stake in Sogaz at 9.58 billion rubles. Based on this figure, all of Sogaz would have been worth over 50 billion rubles at the time.
The overall stake of Abros and LLC Kordex, which is controlled by Gennady Timchenko, is now 45%. This means that Sogaz does not fall under the "50% rule," which states that an entity is considered sanctioned if 50% or more of its equity is owned by companies hit by sanctions.
"Sogaz Insurance Group has studied changed rules in detail with lawyers and concluded that there are no grounds for sanctions to be applied to OJSC Sogaz, since the combined stake in OJSC Sogaz held by shareholders that the media associates with individuals and companies on the sanctions list does not exceed 50%. All group companies, including key group member OJSC Sogaz, are operating as usual and continue to fully meet all of their obligations," the insurer said in a statement.
Sogaz said that, as of August 14, Abros held 32.2% of the insurer's shares, Kordeks held 12.5%, Gazprom Gazoraspredelenie held 16.22%, LLC Accept (a company owned by Mikhail Shelomov, a distant relative of the Russian president) held 12.47%, Gazprom held 3.77%, LLC Sogaz Realty held 2.5%, Gazprombank Asset Management held 19.04% in trust and Gazprombank held 1.2% in trust.
The United States expanded the scope of its sanctions on August 13, revising the terms for imposing sanctions against organizations whose owners are included in the sanctions list. Under the new rules, organizations can be hit by sanctions if parties in the sanctions list hold a combined stake in them of at least 50%.
Previously the 50% rule called for sanctions only against companies in which parties on the sanctions list individually own at least 50% of shares. Sogaz could have fallen under the 50% rule, as until recently 51% of the insurer was owned by Abros, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Rossiya, which has been hit by U.S. sanctions. However, after the imposition of the sanctions Sogaz announced that Abros' stake had shrunk to 48.5%.
