(Reuters) - Austria's Uniqa and Raiffeisen Bank are to sell their stakes in Raiffeisen Life to Russian insurer Renaissance Life, becoming the latest move by Western companies to pare back business in Russia.
The parties have agreed to keep the acquisition price confidential, Uniqa said in a statement on Thursday on its half-year results, adding that the transaction is expected to close within the next six months.
Uniqa held 75% of Raiffeisen Life and RBI held the remaining 25%.
"This means we are withdrawing from Russia," Uniqa's Management Board Member for Customers & Markets International Wolfgang Kindl said in the statement.
Western companies have agreed to sell their Russian assets or hand them over to local managers as they take action to comply with sanctions over the Ukraine conflict and deal with threats from the Kremlin that foreign-owned assets may be seized.
"Profit & Loss effect expected to be not significant," Erste Group research commented.
In the first six months of 2023, Uniqa's technical result in Russia shrank to 5.8 million euros ($6.30 million) from an adjusted 8.5 million euros in the first half of 2022.
Uniqa more than doubled its pre-tax results in the first six months of year, jumping to 215.9 million euros due to a more favourable claims development, despite inflation-related cost increases.
($1 = 0.9208 euros) (This story has been refiled to say 'pare back business in Russia' in paragraph 1)