S&P Global Ratings affirmed the BBB- long-term issuer credit and financial strength ratings of Russian insurers JSC Sogaz and VTB Insurance Ltd. and revised the outlook on the companies to developing from positive and to developing from stable, respectively.
The action comes after Sogaz agreed to acquire 100% of VTB Insurance from Russian government-controlled VTB Bank (PJSC) for an undisclosed sum. But until the deal is closed, VTB Insurance will remain a significant part of VTB Bank in terms of earnings, thus it is still considered to have core group status, the agency said.
S&P said the revised outlook reflects its view about the uncertainties surrounding the financial parameters of the acquisition, which could influence capitalization of the merged entity and lead to changes in its dividend and investment policies.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings. The original S&P Global Ratings documents referred to in this news brief can be found here.
