Shanghai Daily: Business - shanghaidaily.com
AXA, France's largest insurer, has agreed to acquire a 36.7-percent stake in Reso-Garantia, Russia's second-largest insurance firm, for 810 million euros (US$1.16 billion). The investment is expected to add to Axa's earnings within three years, the Paris-based company said in a statement. The insurer will have the option to buy the rest of the company through calls exercisable in 2010 and 2011, according to Bloomberg News. Russia's Federal Anti-Monopoly Service gave Dresdner Bank AG, the banking arm of insurer Allianz SA, regulatory approval to buy a controlling stake in Reso on August 14. The next day, news service Vedomosti reported that Dresdner had decided instead to hold onto its Reso shares as collateral for a loan to its holding company. On May 29, Reso-Garantia said it will sell a 20-percent stake in the first public offering of stock by a Russian insurer. The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development said earlier that it was buying a 10-percent stake in