November 30, 2015, 11:27 pm / Finance

The deal to sell IC Soglasie will not take place

The Central Bank did not approve the new shareholder in the person of the beneficiary of Russian Funds Sergei Vasiliev Maria Kaverina Mikhail Prokhorov has not yet managed to sell the Soglasie insurance company / M. Stulov / Vedomosti

The deal to sell IC Soglasie to Prokhorov to Russian Funds beneficiary Sergei Vasiliev will not take place - the Bank of Russia did not approve such a change of shareholder, Vedomosti was told by a financier who knew this from the regulator, and a person who learned this from the insurer and the Central Bank. The deal was launched by the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Sergei Shvetsov, one of them points out. The Central Bank, according to him, fears a further withdrawal of assets from the company, as happened after the purchase of Oranta by SG Kompanion (both companies had their license revoked).

Prokhorov has been negotiating the sale of “Consent” since at least the summer, participants in the negotiations said. The most obvious contender for purchasing the asset was the development company Ladya River, one of the founders of which is the beneficiary of the investment group, Sergei Vasiliev. At the end of November, Ladya River received approval of the transaction from the FAS. Vasiliev confirmed that he was negotiating the purchase of Soglasiya, and added that the deal may not be closed in 2015. He did not comment on the terms of the deal.

A person close to Rook River confirms that there will be no deal, but gives another reason: the parties “simply did not agree.” The Central Bank does not comment on specific transactions, the regulator’s press service indicated. Onexim declined to comment yesterday. A representative of Soglasiya stated that he denies the information. IC Soglasie is not for sale to anyone, Onexim CEO Dmitry Razumov said the day before. The group, as before, considers the company one of its strategic assets and is not considering proposals for sale, he claims, noting that the shareholder is still ready to maintain the financial condition of Soglasiya. However, one of Prokhorov’s acquaintances knows that he is no longer as interested in the insurance market as before.

Costly “Consent”

Only in 2014–2015. Prokhorov invested about 14 billion rubles in Soglasie, a Onexim representative specified. The funds were also used to cover current losses. Now, according to the instructions of the Central Bank, the company must create additional reserves by April. Based on the results of the first half of the year, the company needed to additionally create about 7 billion rubles. reserves, said two people familiar with the company’s reporting.

It was not possible to contact Vasiliev on Monday. Vasiliev’s partner in the deal was considered to be a well-known manager in the insurance market, Viktor Yun. Yun himself reported that he was only a consultant to Vasiliev. Yun founded the Standard Reserve insurance company in 1993. In 2012, the Russian Insurance Traditions Insurance Company, headed by Yun, announced self-liquidation and filed a petition for bankruptcy in court; later the company’s license was revoked, and the insurer was declared bankrupt.

Formally, the Central Bank has not yet been given the right to approve purchase and sale transactions of insurers, the Central Bank representative recalled. But any major transaction requires the tacit approval of the regulator, explains a top manager of a large insurer.

Russian Funds have previously invested in small insurers: Solidarity for Life and Standard Reserve (in 2005, together with the international financial holding TBIH). Together with Yun in 2008, the group created the Genesis insurance holding, which included Russian Insurance Traditions, TIT, and Nakhodka Re.

Prokhorov does not give up his intention to sell the insurer and continues to search for investors, says one of Onexim’s counterparties. Prokhorov made a second offer to another contender, ex-governor of the Kaliningrad region Georgy Boos, who had previously considered the purchase of Consent, says a person close to Boos. But he, he said, “is interested in less problematic companies.”