Alexander Pracht
Austrian investors have acquired full control of LIGA Insurance, Armenia’s largest insurance company, Central Bank Governor Martin Galstyan announced at a press conference on Tuesday. The deal, first announced in December, was approved by the Central Bank last Friday.
According to the regulator, Austria’s GRAWE Group obtained a 75% stake in LIGA Insurance. Founded in 1828, GRAWE operates insurance companies across Eastern Europe, including in former Yugoslav countries and several post-Soviet states. The remaining 25% was acquired by C-Quadrat Investment Group.
The Central Bank said that C-Quadrat has been operating successfully in Armenia for longer than a decade, managing pension assets for around 450,000 participants in the country’s mandatory pension system.
Galstyan also said that the new owners plan to introduce life insurance products, which are currently not available on the Armenian market.
LIGA Insurance was founded in 2008 as RGS-Armenia, a subsidiary of Russian insurance giant Rosgosstrakh. In 2017, it was sold in a controversial takeover to the Cyprus-based Cimarex Management Limited. Rosgosstrakh later challenged the deal in court, claiming that the deal was structured to benefit Rosgosstrakh’s former main owner, Russian Armenian businessman Danil Khachaturov. A Moscow court ultimately rejected the claim in 2019 and declared the takeover legitimate.
As of last September, LIGA Insurance’s net worth was reported at approximately $20 million.
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