Top Russia insurer makes $1.5 bln cash call -paper
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's largest insurance provider, Rossgostrakh, has asked the government to approve urgently a 43 billion rouble ($1.54 billion) issue of new shares, Vedomosti business daily reported on Thursday.
According to accounts filed by the company at end-2007, the state holds a 25 percent blocking stake in the unlisted firm and thus would have to fund a quarter of the capital increase, with its other owners forking out for the rest.
Vedomosti said it obtained a copy of a Nov. 12 letter from Rosgosstrakh's head Danil Khachaturov to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin asking for additional cash, and that a Finance Ministry official had confirmed the letter's receipt.
Moscow has unveiled a $200 billion rescue package for the economy and financial markets, with strategic sectors set as a key focus. The money will come from the budget as well as from Russia's $450 billion gold and forex reserves, and fresh measures are being unveiled regularly.
Rosgosstrakh had debts of 12.3 billion roubles as of Oct. 1 and an accumulated loss of 2 billion, Vedomosti reported, adding that in calculating the extra cash needs Khachaturov had also taken into account the company's investment programme, plans to buy its own offices and forecasts for 2010 premium income of 90 billion roubles.
The firm's investments in the stock market -- which has fallen sharply in recent months -- will generate a loss of 3 billion roubles, Khachaturov estimates, according to the paper.
Earlier this autumn, Russian media had reported that Rosgosstrakh planned to cut some of its 30,000 staff as a result of the financial crisis.
(Reporting by Toni Vorobyova; editing by John Stonestreet)
