On 26 July, Gazprom divested a 49.979% stake of the Sogaz company, with a 50% stake + 2 shares still remaining under the Gazprom Group’s ownership.

The timing of the stake divestiture is conditioned by Sogaz’s good financial standing that allowed Gazprom to generate a RUR 1.69 billion return on the shares sold.

Arranged by the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, the deal was the first openly-held transaction with Gazprom’s assets.

Being a captive insurance company, Sogaz is confined in its capacity to minimize Gazprom’s risks. Sharing risks with new counterparts and contracting insurance services of independent companies is expected to result in reduced risks for the Company.

Reference:

The Sogaz company was founded in 1993. The Sogaz Group is comprised of the Sogaz-Zhizn Insurance Company, Gazprommedservis company and Gazprommedstrakh company (the latter joined the Group in 2003). Before 26 July 2004, Sogaz’s shares were held by Gazprom (53.75%), Gazprombank (45.03%), Gazexport (1.2%) and Reso-Garantiya (0.02%).

Sogaz performs a full range of insurance services: insurance of property (pipelines, wells, aircrafts, water transport, cargoes, etc.), responsibility insurance (of shipowners and providers, general individual and high-risk corporate responsible, mandatory auto insurance) and individual insurance (life insurance, voluntary and obligatory medical insurance, mortgage insurance, etc.).

In 2003, Sogaz’s net profit, insurance reserves and assets accounted for RUR 320 million, over RUR 5.9 billion and RUR 8.7 billion, respectively.

As of 1 April 2004, Sogaz’s market capitalization calculated based on the net profit, reached RUR 2.2 billion, RUR 0.4 billion up on 1 January 2004.

Gazprommedstrakh’s 2003 net earnings, insurance reserves and assets exceeded RUR 965 thousand, RUR 723 million and RUR 1.4 billion, respectively. Sogaz and Gazprommedstrakh’s 2003 consolidated insurance premium and insurance payments accounted for RUR 10.5 billion and RUR 5.3 billion, respectively.

As of today, Sogaz has concluded over 240 thousand insurance agreements and its individual customers exceed 2.8 million people. Over 20% of the Sogaz Group’s insurance portfolio account for individual and third-party corporate insurance premiums.

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