Russia’s RESO to Launch IPO

May 29, 2007

RESO-GARANTIA, one of Russia’s largest insurers, announced plans to launch an initial public offering of its ordinary shares. The shares have been listed and admitted to trading on the quotation lists “V” of the Russian Trading System Stock Exchange and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange under the symbol “RESO”.

The bulletin said the “shares are being offered in the Russian Federation and outside of the Russian Federation and the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act.” However, the announcement made it clear that there would be no registration or public offering in the U.S., or the UK.

RESO plans to sell around 6.2 million, ordinary shares, approximately 20 percent of the outstanding ordinary shares, which are currently held by RESO Holding Limited, “an entity owned by the principal beneficial shareholders of the Company, Sergey and Nikolay Sarkisov,” the announcement explained. RESO will not issue any new shares.

The bulletin described RESO as the “second largest retail insurance company in Russia in terms of gross written premiums. It currently has over 2 million clients, and distributes its products primarily through “over 18,000 agents and over 800 points of sale, which make up the second largest insurance agent network in the Russian Federation.” It has significant market share in “motor, corporate property and voluntary medical insurance, and offers a wide range of other products, including residential property, casualty, travel, and mortgage insurance.”

Sergey Sarkisov, the founding shareholder and Chairman of the Supervisory Board, commented: “We are pleased to be the first Russian insurance company to offer shares to investors in a public offering. Recently the EBRD has become a strategic shareholder in RESO, which we consider to be a vote of confidence in both RESO and the Russian insurance market. We believe that the IPO will help the Company in establishing a successful track record in the capital markets and supporting further profitable expansion of our business.”

Topics Russia

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