VTB Group buys VIG's stakes in MSK Insurance Co, MSK-Life - source
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Capital Insurance Group, which is part of VTB Group , has finished buying 3.45% of MSK Insurance Group and a blocking stake in MSK-Life (25% plus 2 shares) from Austria's Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), a source close to the deal told Interfax.
The necessary Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) approval to buy MSK-Life stock was received, the source said.
In the spring, Yekaterina Petelina, who was a member of VTB's management board at the time, discussed the negotiations to buy VIG's stakes. She said that the Austrian company had decided to withdraw from the Russian market and that VTB intended to purchase its stake in the insurers' capital.
Vienna Insurance Group made its debut on the Russian insurance market in 2005, buying about 25% of MSK-Life's stock from Moscow Insurance Company (MSK), which was controlled by the Moscow government and Bank of Moscow . Later, together with Bank of Moscow, VIG participated in a deal to buy the company Standard-Reserve from the TBIH holding, as a result of which the Austrian insurer got a minority stake in Standard-Reserve and Sovita Insurance Company, which was later transformed into a 3.45% stake in MSK Insurance Company.
