Lukoil and partner receive control over former Russian AIG subsidiary

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Lukoil , together with a financial partner, acquired control over IC Guardia, formerly the AIG Insurance Company.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, this week Invest LLC and KN Holding LLC received 51% and 49% shares in the holding structure of Guardia, AIG CAS Investments LLC. KN Holding is a business entity belonging to Lukoil, and KN Holding owns 49% of Invest. The remaining 51% is owned by the Gazprombank-Freesia closed-end investment fund.

Lukoil and GPB-Freesia have already participated together in one transaction related to the withdrawal of a foreign player from the Russian market: they acquired control in a subsidiary of the Italian Enel energy holding Enel (now called EL5-Energo ). Subsequently, the entire package initially acquired by the partners (56.4%) was consolidated under Lukoil.

The company was called Guardia starting in December last year, after the subsidiary of the AIG group that left Russia was acquired by investors who had previously held management positions in the Russia Partners fund.

Guardia, commenting on the new change of owners, said it would serve the insurance needs of the Lukoil group, "while continuing to develop our market business."

According to Russian Central Bank statistics for 2022, the company ranked 94th among Russian insurers in terms of total fees, having fallen from 49th position. Total premiums reached 227.7 million rubles, a decrease of 11.4 times compared to 2021.